Weekend Update

The clouds are gathering and their dark bases, heavy with moisture, give us hope that there may be rain -- much needed rain. In order to encourage it, I have a clothesline full of laundry, the dog beds are spread outside to air, the car windows are down, and we're planning on eating out on the deck tonight. We're having chicken salad, peach pickle, and potato chips -- a standard Southern summertime meal from my childhood. In the past, this particular menu, when served outside has often brought rain.

The only other rainmaker I've known as effective was my older son. When he was young he had a talent for summoning showers anytime I asked him to go to the garden and pick beans. More often than seems credible, by the time he had his shoes on and started out the door, it would begin to rain. And if you fool with bean plants when they're wet, you run the risk of spreading bean disease. So Ethan would escape the dreaded chore -- at least till things dried off.

News of the peeps: Here's a closeup of what I hope will prove to be an Americana chick. And here's the wren family -- there seem to be three but I can't be sure.

I see a wren coming and going constantly with insects and caterpillars to fill these gaping maws. I sincerely hope both parents are on the job -- feeding a baby bird is no joke. One summer we watched a family of towhees where the father seemed to be doing all the feeding while the mother just looked in from time to time, evidently feeling that her responsibilities were over now that the eggs had hatched.

By summer's end, the poor male towhee was a pale, frazzled shadow of his former self, still followed about by his two children, both now bigger than he and fully capable of feeding themselves but still fluffing up and gaping their mouths at him while Mama, fat and sleek and rested, hung out in the rosebushes, gossiping with friends.