Thursday, June 12, 2008

Hearts and Minds, and birds attack!


The blogging has been rather spotty this last week of school, as kids' events have swallowed up my schedule. I've managed to begin Rosy Thornton's novel Hearts and Minds, set in a women's college at Cambridge, and so far, I'm hooked. I keep sneaking pages when I can, in places like the carpool line at school. On her website, Thornton says she writes "contemporary fiction of a kind which you might call romantic comedy with a hint of satire - or possibly social satire with a hint of romance", and so far I'm finding it a nice combination.

I can barely get out my back door at the moment because we're under siege. A pair of nesting mockingbirds who are trying to get their baby fledged attack whenever we go out into our back yard. I wondered what was going on when I started getting dive-bombed by birds, and then I finally spotted the fluffy little baby bird, hopping around in my jasmine. (You can barely see him in this picture, but you can tell I need to get in there and trim back the jasmine.) Mama Bird is quite a protector, and totally unafraid of humans, who are all clearly possible invaders of her nest. She swoops fearlessly at me and is keeping my two cats and dog at bay 24/7. My husband says this sort of situation must be how Alfred Hitchcock was inspired to make The Birds. I'm hoping baby learns to fly soon!

After my son's graduation from elementary school this evening, we are off on yet another weekend away, but next week I hope to get back into the blogging groove.

2 comments:

Logophile said...

I loved reading about these protective parents helping the chicks to fly! Hope that it's safe to go back in your back yard now :)

Gentle Reader said...

logophile--yes, the baby bird learned to fly and all is well. The cats and I can now enter the back yard safely!