On the way home from a visit to our favorite local ice cream place…
…and I have to stop right here and gloat mention that I’ve had my heater turned off for more days than I can remember and the windows open wide, even at night…
…a visit which commenced at a time at least one hour prior to the end of the local elementary schools’ day, Jenny asked me if my mother had made me do schoolwork all.day.long.
I told her no, that my mother made me GO to school all.day.long. And then I came home and did homework all.night.long.
She was surprised that I hadn’t been homeschooled. My mother worked, I explained.
“What did your dad do then?” she wondered.
They have no idea how lucky they are.
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These guys paid us a visit on Valentine’s Day. I don’t know what they are. My bird experts are all unavailable right now. We love living in this part of the country partly because of all the different birds we get to see.
Note that this was taken during school hours and all the children saw them. I never got to see interesting birds while I was at school all.day.long.
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And then this morning, Katie came running in from the backyard where she was reading her history book in the sunshine (note: I did not get to read history books outdoors on beautiful mornings while I was in school all.day.long) to announce that there was a wounded bird in our yard.
“Leave it alone!” That was the first thing I shouted. “Get back to your math!” That was the next thing, directed at the boys who had sprung from their seats. Unfortunately, there was someone at the door, and in my absence, they all ignored me.
It was a goldfinch.
Here are my children doing schoolwork all.day.long.
Yes, that’s a bird in Katie’s hand.
He is pretty cute. But his eyes kept closing. I don’t know what was wrong with him.
Normally a bird would be wide eyed and shaking like a leaf. And not in a child’s hand. Even a cute one.
I made Katie put him down by the back fence. He blends in really well.
I zoomed in so you could spot him.
I love my camera.
Thank you, honey.
Anyway, I shooed him through the fence so the dog couldn’t get him. Or the children. There is overhead cover at that spot, so I thought he’d be protected from the hawks we often see. A short while later, Katie said he was gone, but she felt that a particular goldfinch she saw flying around was him. Perhaps. I hope so. He may just have been dazed, perhaps he flew into a window and needed a rest to recover.
Or maybe somebody’s cat got him. Don’t want to know.
Don’t you just pity my children their oppressive school conditions?
Reit This Way 
Hilarious! This morning I took our children to the local marina to sketch the bald eagles that have been frequenting the area. They were so distraught when, after their third hot-cooked lunch of the week, they discovered that they actually had to do some math. The poor darlings.
Yes, I think about this often as my children sit sipping tea and painting while I read to them for 'school'. They have no idea. As for your birds, my daughter thinks your visitors are white ibis. The goldfinch may have house finch eye disease, a virus that also affects goldfinches.
Yes, Kimberlee, it is a white ibis. At first glance that morning, I thought it was just an egret (white or snowy), of which we see many, but my little bird watchers knew right away it was not.
I love the little bird watcher updates!
We just had parallel conversations yesterday about how nice to school at home compared to sitting in school all-day-long. I didn't paint a bleak picture, but he immediately dropped his whine when he compared how wonderful he had it here.
My poor children were subjected to lunch out yesterday at a local diner when a friend called at the last minute and invited us to join her and her son. My younger children were also forced to play outside all morning in the beautiful weather because I was working on a project and couldn't supervise school at the moment. Their life is so very hard.
yes, the other day when I questioned my often-behind-in-her-work high school student why she wasn't doing her late schoolwork in the evening, she replied, “but Mom, I was working all day UNTIL FIVE O'CLOCK!” Poor dear.