The Truth About Mama Birds and Baby Birds

We have a robin's nest in our backyard. It's in a low-growing spruce, and the nest is at knee-height. Mama Robin laid four eggs this spring. Three hatched.

The nest is not in the most serene location for Mama Robin. We walk past it between our house and garage, sending Mama Robin flying to safety and squawking with concern for the babies she leaves in the nest. 

I'm thinking a lot about Mama Robin, her babies, and the various truths their presence helps me to remember. Truths like:

• Mama birds feed their babies. They find the food and make it digestible to these newborns. The behavior is encoded in Mama's DNA. She is driven to keep them alive through food. This reminds me of my intense, visceral need for my kids to eat breakfast before school. (Seriously, the morning dilly-dallying is crazy-making.)

• Mama birds take care of themselves first, so they may care for their babies. When one of us gets too close to the nest, Mama Robin flies to the fence, a tree, or the roof of our neighbor's garage. She knows we're not likely to hurt the babies, and she flees so she may stay safe enough to be there for her babies later. She'll protect her babies with force, if necessary, though. The other day, Mama Robin pecked at one of the neighbor's kids when he stayed too close to the nest. This care for yourself so you may care for others is a truth I often forget.

• Mama birds experience loss, including the loss of a potential life. Mama Robin's fourth egg didn't hatch, and it won't. That is a loss faced by a lot of human mamas, too. My own third pregnancy ended with an early miscarriage. I've got my three baby birds, though, to feed and protect and teach to fly.

These are not the truths my kids are learning from Mama Robin and her babies. That will come with time and experience. Prima, Seconda, and Terza had these thoughts, instead:

• Baby birds grow faster than you would expect.

• Their eyelids are a different color than their bodies, which are hairy instead of feathery. That's kind of weird.

• It's best to walk past the nest quietly so as not to disturb Mama Robin.

• Baby birds can be really ugly and really cute.

• When the Mama Robin is perched on the fence, chirping loudly, she's probably calling the Daddy Robin in for dinner.

So there you have it, the truth about Mama Birds and Baby Birds. 

Can You Help? (Boston, West, Moore)

The week of April 15, 2013 was horrid. Terrifying and heartbreaking and anger-inducing and tedious. I often wished I could make the Boston Marathon bombing victims whole and healthy. I wished I could wave a wand and rebuild the town of West, Texas. I wished I could just do something to make the lives of those affected a little easier and their recoveries come swifter. Now I'm doing the same for the people of Moore, Oklahoma.

The most dangerous and destructive tornado pretty much ever hit Moore, Oklahoma yesterday, destroying the town. Many, many people died, including children at school. People in Oklahoma probably have more avenues for helping than those of us many states away. We can still help, though, by giving to the American Red Cross.

When the fertilizer plant exploded in West, Texas in April, people lost lives and loved ones, homes and jobs. The town lost several first responders in the blast. The Waco Foundation set up a fund for victims of the blast, and the West City Council officially endorsed it as the recommended recipient of donations. Please consider supporting the West, Texas Disaster Relief Efforts Fund.

Those who lost limbs and suffered other injuries in the Boston Marathon bombings face a long haul of surgeries and treatments, therapies and accommodations. The Mayor of Boston and the Governor of Massachusetts set up the One Fund Boston to assist the victims and their families recover from this tragedy. If you are moved to help them, please do.


Within every picture or video of every tragedy, there is proof of the best of human life. Helpers are everywhere. People acting for the good of others. Despite how politics play out, how media narratives are woven before us, how singularly horrifying acts by individuals or groups can make it seem, the base human instinct to care for others is far larger, stronger, and more common than anything else.

Let's keep trying to make good on that instinct.

Why We Should Care About Budgets

It's budget season for our county government. In fact, the County Council will vote on the budget on Thursday, so we're almost done for the season. Yet, nearly (or maybe even literally) no one from the public offered input.

How can that be? Surely there are people out there who understand budgets AND care about civic participation?

I'm sure there are many reasons for people to opt-out of the opportunities to participate in our local budget process. I'm guessing that my reason may be your reason - these budgets are hard to follow.

Budgets make my eyes glaze over. Household budgets are fine. Even though they are never exciting and can be stressful to stay within, household budgets make sense. It's those pesky organizational budgets that act like automatic snooze buttons. From my local PTA to the county government and higher, I have a hard time relating to these documents and what they all really mean.

There is a real dispute between Howard County's Board of Education and its County Executive about how much funding the school system needs next year. After years of austerity budgets, of marking time in the form of bare minimum expenditures, HCPSS has streamlined its operations (aka trimmed the fat) and proposed some modest steps forward. (more info here: http://www.hcpss.org/aboutus/budget.shtml)
The County Executive proposed allocating $10 million less from the county budget than the school system requested. The County Executive proposed we continue  walking in place, save moving forward for another year.

How does that old saying go? If you're not moving forward then you're falling behind?

I wish I had exact solutions to this dilemma before the Council. I wish I could tell them, in dollar amounts, where to cut and where to spend. I don't have the insight or time for that. I can, however, tell them what I value in our school system and expect them to use their insight and time to protect those things. 

Current or lower class size. Technology. World Language. Expanded school counseling staff. Pay increases for school-based staff.

Budgets don't grab our attention like school redistricting or wellness policies, but they have at least as much of an impact on the daily lives of students. They don't often give us specifics to oppose or promote, so we don't get up to the lectern at public budget hearings and advocate like we do for other proposals. 

The public hearings have passed, but it's not too late to advocate. We can write letters to the Council, advocating for what we value most in our school system. They can figure out the finances.

UPDATE: Click to read my letter to the Council (copied to the County Executive, Board of Education, and Superintendent on my Facebook page.

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Email all the Council members and the County Executive, and copy the Board of Education. Every one of those folks need to know what's important to you.

County Council: councilmail@howardcountymd.gov (all Council members receive emails sent here)

County Executive: kulman@howardcountymd.gov

Board of Education: boe@hcpss.org (all Board members receive emails sent here)

Strawberry Picking at Gorman Farm

I love strawberry picking. It's one of the first and best ways to introduce kids to gardening and farming. The strawberries grow at toddler height, have no thorns or prickers of any kind, and ripen early enough in the season for great weather to keep temperatures reasonable and bugs at bay. For the past two or three years, though, I've just flat out missed strawberry season. Travel, weather, and general busyness kept me away from the farmers markets and pick-your-own farms.

That all changed today, my friends! Gorman Farm opened its strawberry fields this week, and I jumped (not literally...well, maybe a little bit) at the chance to pick some juicy fruit to put up in some yummy jams. I went alone, no kids, and although I know we would have fun together. Still, I really enjoyed my picking time alone, in no small part because of the conversations I overheard between other moms, dads, and tots as they picked along.

One curious little boy asked a question his father couldn't answer. The dad suggested they'd have to look it up online at home. The boy responded approvingly, "Right, 'cause Online knows everything."

I couldn't even stifle that giggle. The dad then dropped this bombshell on his son. "You know, when I was a boy, we didn't even have the Internet." The boy exclaimed, "What?!?!" It was as if he had just heard the most improbably ridiculous story ever.

The stories continued with other families. Grandmothers sharing their childhood memories of strawberry picking. Mothers showing and telling how to pick the best strawberries. Friends catching up on the latest in each others lives. (A surprising number of people mentioned school redistricting.)

I picked and listened, listened and picked as my mind wandered between memories of strawberry picking with my babies and tomorrow's plans to teach them jam-making. Maybe I'll pick up some rhubarb and fresh herbs at the market today. So many recipes to try and a whole weekend ahead of me...

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Scenes from a Thursday Stroll on Main Street

I had a few hours between volunteering in Terza's kindergarten class and meeting with my mentor student, so did a little shopping on Ellicott City's Main Street today. Mumbles & Squeaks is closing at the end of the month, so I bought a few things on sale. (If you haven't been, it's a really good toy store with very nice owners. I hope they enjoy their retirement very much!) I also explored Taylor's Antiques Mall for the first time and found lots of gift-giving inspiration there! LEGO fans must check it out.

The sign on the corner of Main Street and Old Columbia Pike got my attention. Fill a bucket of LEGO? Yes, please! The train garden even has an ocean world!

Taylor's also sells classic toys, collectibles, furniture, and so many other cool things. I was tempted to buy an antique butter churner. If I had a toddler, I would have snatched up this See 'N Say.

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What Do I Do? I Teach.

Adults are often asking children what they want to be when they grow up. I think I had a different answer every year - teacher, lawyer, flight attendant, television reporter. I had three different majors during my first year of college - art, biology, nursing. I tried them on, but none of them felt completely right. I just wanted to learn about a lot of things, so I flipped through the course catalog to find a major that required courses in everything.

Then just before the end of freshman year, I found it: Elementary Education. All majors required a base of general classes, but Elementary Education required almost double that. I filed the form to officially change my major, then headed home for summer break and a summer job.

That summer job turned out to be an epiphany. I taught drawing at Columbia Association's Art Camp, and by the end of the first week I felt called. Called to teach. I was so happy with this clarity that I stopped by the tailgate flower stand on Broken Land Parkway to buy my mom some flowers. It felt celebratory, to know what I was going to be when I grew up.

I finished school and got a job teaching fifth grade. (Those kids are out in the world now, 20-somethings finding their way, making their marks.) It was hard but rewarding, intense but fun. It was also brief. Two years in to my teaching career I became a homemaker, caring for Prima. Seconda and Terza would join us in time.

My work as a professional educator ended (on hold, really). Thinking back on the last ten-plus years, I've been teaching continually. From teaching my girls their colors to planning fun MOMS Club events, from nature walks with my girls to bedtime stories to school volunteering and Computer Club, I teach.

After ten-plus years of homemaking, I'm ready for another career shift. It's more of a return than a change. What I hope to do come August is walk into my elementary school classroom, turn on the lights, and do what I do.

Real Heroes

I discovered the brilliant work of Brian Andreas a few summers ago. He shares some of his work on Twitter through the @StoryPeople account. It serves as a daily meditation, quote, or quip. It always brings a smile.

I saw this picture on Saturday, the day after Dennis passed.

©2013 Brian Andreas

I had just risen from sleep, engaged in my morning routine of Twitter and Facebook. I felt awful, like the world was just wrong, wrong, wrong. I've felt this way before; it's the way of grief. 

This painting and it's message took my breath away. I've felt sorrow so deep it seemed to make loving the world again impossible. I've known real heroes, too. Dennis was a real hero.

Those of us who knew Dennis, whether through close friendship or casual blog-reading, feel such a loss. We're going to feel it for some time. His heroism, though, was a gift he gave us all. We can slay dragons, of course, but we can wake up each morning and love the world again. Dennis taught us how.

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