Weekly Challenge at Inspiration Avenue "Mother"

The challenge this week at Inspiration Avenue was "Mother" and to be truthful, I really didn't think I'd have anything to submit  between trying to get ready for my art classes and wanting to finish my self portrait..... BUT, my cat and bluebird provided me with a story that could have been tragic but ended up being funny.  Just so it's out on the table, I'm just the kind of person these things happen to!  About ten minutes before my first class, I was in the garden just gathering my thoughts and my cat Latte came up to me with a male bluebird in his mouth.  My first thought was oh sh*t he's dead......but then I realized he wasn't.  SO I started screaming at the cat and throwing anything I could find, gumballs sticks- you name it, I threw it!  But the blasted cat wouldn't drop his "prize"!  All I succeeded in was chasing him into the storm drain at the side of the house.

  Now remember, I'm currently waiting for students and their Mommies to arrive- I haven't met them all before AND I like to make a good first impression.  SO, I'm wearing some cute white capris and a pretty silk shirt, AND I'm now running (in flip flops) down a muddy, smelly root infested storm drain still screaming at the top of my lungs!   I finally managed to get the cat to drop the bird and the bird was stunned but managed to fly away and *I* managed to compose myself and ended up having a great class. 

       BUT, the next day, I didn't see both of my Bluebirds- just the male.....so now I'm wondering if Latte had caught the FEMALE and she was too much in shock to recover.....I'm kind of obsessive about my birds :) anyway, I kept watching but never saw her that day.  But there was one egg in the nest, and the male was still hanging around so I didn't completely lose hope. Finally, I thought to do some research to see if I could find anything promising. 

I'm also REALLY impatient ;)

       I found out the when female bluebirds are in their egg laying mode, they lay one egg a day and then stay away until it's time to lay the next egg....this continues until it's time to incubate the eggs.  So in the end, both my bluebirds are alive and well, as am I if a little bit crazy......Mama's now sitting on the nest and ALL of my cats are now sporting the very loudest bell collars I could find.

 Hopefully I haven't bored you with my bird obsession!  I DO have one more story to share about birds and mothering..... yesterday, I was admiring my Mama Bluebird poking her nose (beak?) out of the house, and I heard some Blue Jays. And then I noticed a pair of them flying in and out a tree right next to our house- so now we have a blue jay nest too!  My favorite Blue Jay story is about a pair of bratty teens who'd very recently fledged.  They were sitting in a tree squawking again and again; waiting for Mom or Dad to bring them some food.  One of the parents (we'll call her Mom, 'cause in my head this was SUCH a Mom thing to do:))  flies into the tree, but really low where they teens can't see her.  They continue their noisy cries and finally Mom has had it with them.  She flies into the tree and conks both of her brats on the head with her beak, squawks at them and then flies away without having fed either of them.  I guess that was her way of pushing them into the real world.......:D 
That's one of my all time favorite bird stories- and I DO feel I must add that I'd never conk one of my own bratty teens over head, but I might occasionally give 'em a swat on the butt......

Be sure to stop by Inspiration Avenue, I KNOW there will be tons of beautiful "Mother" inspired images to look at!
Happy Sunday,
Stephanie