OUR COMMON HOURS

Kelli Ann Wilson January 30, 2015

friend to the birds

Brave little fighters, go on with your battle–
Here is a friend who will welcome you all!
Fly to my window–I’ll feed every comer–
Hail to the comrades that constancy show
Loving and loyal, in winter and summer–
With us, alike, in the heat and the snow!

— From “Winter Birds” by Andrew Downing

I’ve always wanted to have bird feeders at my house, but winter after winter went by and I never got around to doing anything about it. But, this year I was determined to have them, and I really wanted Zane to be involved in making the feeders because that’s right up his alley — wood, tools, birds? — sign him up! Papa (my dad) graciously cut out all of the pieces for us and helped Zane to put them together. Now we have bird feeders! We already had some hooks outside several of the windows in the house so we put our feeders there — it’s so neat to be able to see the birds up close. It’s been thrilling for everyone (especially the cat). I’ve taken some “portraits” of a few of our feathered visitors; I love that they all seem to have their own personalities and, my goodness, they are adorable! Thank you, Papa, for making our bird-loving dreams come true! xoxo

[Most of these were taken with my 50mm lens, but the close-up was done with my 70-200mm, which is really the right lens for the job.] If I’ve identified them correctly — thank you, Roger Tory Peterson — then I believe these birds are, in order of appearance: Common Redpoll, Acanthis flammea; Pine Siskin, Spinus pinus; Tufted Titmouse, Baeolophus atricristatus; Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura.

Kelli Ann Wilson January 30, 2015

3 // 52

“A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2015.”

Lillia: This week you participated in your school spelling bee. It was a bit of a letdown for you because you accidentally spelled your first word — VISIT — wrong (you left out the second ‘i’). Everyone knows that you can spell the word ‘visit’ so those of us in the audience were a bit confused. At first I thought you might have made the mistake on purpose so that you could get out of the spelling bee (not unheard of in this household…), but now I am thinking that your mouth just got ahead of your mind. C’est la vie! There’s always next year! And, I am very proud of you for getting as far as you did.

Zane: My favorite memory of you from this past week was when you decided you were hungry and so you made some Tofurky hot dogs all by yourself! I was in the bedroom folding laundry and I heard: “Beep, beep, beep, vrrmmmmm.” I came out to see what you were doing, and found you standing on a stool in front of the microwave with a huge grin on your face. You said, “You weren’t out here to help me.” I had only once shown you how to do this, and you must have remembered because you had the exact right time entered. The best part was when you pulled out the plate to see if they were ready, inspected them, and then decided to give them another ten seconds. There is such a big person inside that tiny body of yours!

Kelli Ann Wilson January 20, 2015

2 // 52

“A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2015.”

Lillia: This week you are getting ready for your school spelling bee (which happens next Thursday). There are two kids from each class participating. You are really excited about it, and I hope that you have a good time. You’re an excellent speller and I know you will do well. I’m so impressed that you are not nervous about being in front of all of those people — when I was your age I made it into my school’s spelling bee and then intentionally spelled my first word wrong so I could get off the stage ASAP (I don’t recommend doing that). Good luck and study hard!

Zane: This week we spent some time on the trails out behind our house. We haven’t been out there much this winter due to the weather being absolutely frigid. We tried to go on our normal path, but couldn’t make it up the hill because it was so icy! So, we decided to check out the pond instead. You were amazed that we could walk on the water (which was frozen, of course). Instead of having to go all the way around to get to the other side, we just went right across the middle! I love re-discovering the wonders of nature with you.

Kelli Ann Wilson January 17, 2015

our week // vol 2

Of winter’s lifeless world each tree
Now seems a perfect part;
Yet each one holds summer’s secret
Deep down within its heart.
— Charles G. Stater

Kelli Ann Wilson January 17, 2015

simplifying // week two

This week I tackled my son’s closet, which kind of spilled over into the dresser and the rest of the room. And, I learned that deep cleaning can be therapeutic. I’ve really been struggling lately with the fact that my little one is leaving the baby stage of life. He’s almost three and a half years old, so it’s not like this should come as some big surprise, but still…it hurts. What started out as a simple matter of cleaning out Zane’s closet turned into a meditation on the boy he is becoming. And, even though it was difficult to take some things out of his room (especially that little stack of onesies; he’ll never wear a onesie again), when I stood back and looked at what was left I could really see him in a way I hadn’t seen him before. I could see the boy that he is right now. He’s not the baby in the picture on the wall; he can’t be. He’s a little boy who loves trucks, and books, and birds, and I absolutely adore the person he is now (even if I do miss that little baby sometimes). It amazes me that I had to remove the physical links to an earlier stage of Zane’s life before I could gain perspective on the arrow of time (to borrow a phrase from my smart husband). It’s a work in progress.

Here’s a list of the things I removed. I still need to go through some of this stuff and re-home or bin it, but that is perhaps a task for next week:

a giant IKEA bag full of miscellaneous toys
two garbage bags full of stuffed animals
2 laundry baskets full of clothes
1 garbage bag full of clothes that are too small

I also moved some of his smaller trucks from his shelf into his closet, using the tub that used to hold all of those stuffed animals. That freed up a lot of space for more of his books, and now his new trucks can occupy the place of honor for awhile.