Coloring, drawing, gluing, cutting. These are everyday occurrences in our house. You can’t totally see it but there is a basket on the table with cups of markers, pencils, glue, and scissors and a big tupperware full of crayons. Makes clean-up so much easier, just put it all in cups, shove it in the basket and set on the closet shelf. Done.

While he is coloring, I love looking at his profile, sitting in a chair, feet not touching the ground.

Look at those fat, chunky-monkey feet, toes curled and swinging while he colors. He had to take his socks off because he was getting warm. Coloring is hard work.

We craft and listen to music and create, cut, glue, destroy, wrinkle up, throw away, and start all over again. Last week we read about space travel and made a rocket out of an old two-liter bottle, stuck a straw to it, strung a string across the family room and watched it fly.  Filled an entire afternoon but more importantly, brought this little man joy. Actually, I think the megaphone we created out of an empty creamer container was a bigger hit.  Ya know, when you’re five years old, what’s better than being EVEN LOUDER THAN WE ALREADY ARE, EH MOM?!?!

**********************

And the next morning, the sky exploded with color as the sun rose. From left to right, out our front window…

I should have removed the hook in the middle of this photo (which is my hanger for flower baskets in summer) but it was about 17 degrees outside and the light was changing so quickly, I was worried I’d miss capturing this. I’m not sure why I’m worried, this is an everyday occurrence. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear the world was on fire. Breath-taking.

********************

And a few hours later, when my attention was on getting somewhere at a specific time, in other words focused on something I couldn’t even see, I stepped out front and heard it, a loud “Cuk, cuk, cuk…,” and looked up to see a pileated woodpecker in my front yard.

No, I didn’t take this photo. My camera wasn’t in hand. Remember, I was in a hurry to be somewhere else?

I’ve wanted to see one of these birds since I took my ornithology classes in college, so let’s see, that’s been about 20 years ago. Twenty years and then on a random sunday, while running late, bam! There he is. In my tree. Cuk, cuk, cuk-ing so loudly it stopped me in my tracks. As soon as I looked up, AKA as soon as I moved, so did he and in a red flash as bright as Elmo, he flew on. But I saw him.  And heard him. And now I’ve got suet out to draw him back and feed him and I am waiting. Patiently. I waited 20 years, I can wait a few more.

Gotta run, the fat-feet-swinging-can’t-touch-the-ground little man wants me to look at his coloring of a fox.

Happy Monday, y’all!