Yesterday I saw a robin. A Real LIVE one. He (she) was flitting around in the crab apple tree outside my dining room window. I was lingering over a late breakfast, enjoying the rare sunshine, and a bowl of my special fruit laced oatmeal when a movement caught my eye, and the flash of the red breast. I peered. I didn't have my "see the bird" glasses on, but the formation and the color convinced me. I enlisted Dad to look. "It's just a starling." he pronounced. He couldn't see it that well. It was behind some branches in a crotch of the tree. I kept watching. He came out to the end of a branch. It was definitely a robin. "You should put it on your blog." Dad said, even though he didn't believe it was a robin. "Yeh" I agreed. I hadn't been able to sign in the last time I tried, so I didn't hurry to the computer.
We went on with our usual daily pursuits. We unloaded the car..34 boxes of books brought home from the show. Two were empty. That was good news. Now we had to replace the books we sold. That is a litte easier said than done. Some things we had back ups for, others we will never be able to replace. I contacted a couple of local dealers and was able to fill in some holes. Then I remembered a crate of books Dad had purchased at Rochester, three or four, or maybe five or six shows ago. Most of the books in it were items we already had in stock, so we just pushed it under the stand in the front hall and forgot it. Out of sight, out of mind.
I dragged it out of the front hall. It now reposes in the living room. Some of the books are still ones we don't want to take to shows, but a couple of them were really nice to find. Sometimes it is like Christmas going through boxes. A nice monograph of Roland Clark's hunting pictures will look nice on the table at the next show. I don't remember when we sold the last copy of "The 45-70 Rifle". There was a second printing in the box, and one on the Sharps Rifle too. So it was a good treasure hunt. Now I have to put the crate back.
So today at breakfast, (fruit bowl, bacon and toast, orange juice & coffee) I remarked, "I wonder where my robin is?" I looked...and there he (she) was! Right back in the crab apple tree for breakfast! This time Dad saw him, and pronounced, "By golly you are right, it is a robin! This is pretty early for them here!" Of course, the thermometer says it is 50 degrees and the snow is melting off the roofs of the sheds so Dad won't have to shovel them now....unless the storm heading our way piles it up too high again!
We went on with our usual daily pursuits. We unloaded the car..34 boxes of books brought home from the show. Two were empty. That was good news. Now we had to replace the books we sold. That is a litte easier said than done. Some things we had back ups for, others we will never be able to replace. I contacted a couple of local dealers and was able to fill in some holes. Then I remembered a crate of books Dad had purchased at Rochester, three or four, or maybe five or six shows ago. Most of the books in it were items we already had in stock, so we just pushed it under the stand in the front hall and forgot it. Out of sight, out of mind.
I dragged it out of the front hall. It now reposes in the living room. Some of the books are still ones we don't want to take to shows, but a couple of them were really nice to find. Sometimes it is like Christmas going through boxes. A nice monograph of Roland Clark's hunting pictures will look nice on the table at the next show. I don't remember when we sold the last copy of "The 45-70 Rifle". There was a second printing in the box, and one on the Sharps Rifle too. So it was a good treasure hunt. Now I have to put the crate back.
So today at breakfast, (fruit bowl, bacon and toast, orange juice & coffee) I remarked, "I wonder where my robin is?" I looked...and there he (she) was! Right back in the crab apple tree for breakfast! This time Dad saw him, and pronounced, "By golly you are right, it is a robin! This is pretty early for them here!" Of course, the thermometer says it is 50 degrees and the snow is melting off the roofs of the sheds so Dad won't have to shovel them now....unless the storm heading our way piles it up too high again!
The carved robin was done by Dad in 1981. He went to a couple of carving shows and then was sold to a dear neighbor, who loved Dad's carvings. When she moved to a small apartment, after her husband died, I bought him back, and appreciated her offer of him, because I always loved him too.
