A Bird Story

 

Story time. Brew your tea.

If you're a long time reader, you may be familiar with my seasonal basket/dollhouse displays of my small finishes. (If not, just click on those labels in the right sidebar for a peek.) Within the last couple of years, I decided to come up with a different theme for my summer display, but ran into two problems: couldn't think of a theme, and didn't have time to do anything about it anyway. As y'all know, the last couple of years have been a challenge around here. 

Summer is my least favorite season, so nothing was really jumping out at me, demanding to be stitched. I guess the two most obvious and popular themes for summer decor are beach and patriotic. I'm not a beach person (unless it's rocky and freezing cold), and as I've mentioned in the past, I have done very little patriotic stitching because being in the military, it's pretty much our whole life! I needed something different!

A couple of weeks ago I was minding my own business when I was mugged by an idea. (Stop me if you've heard this one.) Birds. Of course. Of course, birds. Remember my bird tree from Christmas Open House 2022? If you do, you know I love birds! How did I not think of this immediately? I don't know. But at last my addled brain came up with the perfect theme.

I miss birds so much. When we were stationed on the East Coast, our quarters backed up to a pond and a wooded area. We had birds galore, and I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed feeding and watching them. We also had deer, squirrels, groundhogs, foxes, raccoons, and bunnies. The pond had ducks and geese and frogs and spring peepers. Oh how I miss all that wildlife.

Our next assignment was on the Great Plains, and there were very few trees around us, and not many birds. We did have bunnies and the cutest little ground squirrels. And where we are now, we have woods, but we can't have bird feeders on account of the bears. 

So the day I settled on my bird theme, I naturally started hunting through my stash and prowling Etsy, and remembering how lovely it was to have so many birds around back then. I thought a lot about how the little house finches used to nest in my front door wreaths every spring, and how the first thing I heard when I came downstairs every morning was their busy nesting and happy chattering. I remembered watching their babies hatch, and grow, and fledge. It's been years ago now. I was feeling wistful. 

The very next morning I came downstairs and heard that old familiar chattering and scrabbling on the door. I almost couldn't believe it. I peeked out, and sure enough, a pair of house finches had just begun their nest in my front door wreath. Because we have to use this door, I had to move the wreath and hope they would come back. I moved it to another place on the porch, and in doing so, noticed they had used some animal fur in the nest. I put a puff of werewolf fuzz on another part of the wreath for them to find, and waited.

They didn't come back that day.

I hoped they'd come back the next morning. 

They weren't there. 

I felt bad for disturbing them, but not having a side door as we had in the past, we had to use the front door. I hoped that maybe another pair might find the wreath.

Mid-morning I traipsed downstairs for a cup of tea and what do you think? There they were, industriously repairing the beginnings of their nest that the move had dislodged. I was so relieved.

We had our tea together that morning. It's been years since I've had tea with the birds, and I sat quietly, listening to them work, and feeling so very peaceful. It was enchanting. 

So for the last little while, I've been happily planning my Summer of Birds: choosing designs, pairing them with fabrics, making shopping lists... 

...and having tea with the birds.

(Bluebird design info in this post. Stitched on 32 ct. Zweigart Murano Fleur.)