Boys love train tracks.

Timothy checking out his photo of the train tracks:

Ben showing me his picture of the train tracks:

Boys comparing photos of train tracks?:

ALL the boys taking pictures of the train tracks:

And long after the photography became boring, one little boy was patiently waiting to actually see the train leave:

(It had been sitting in the station for probably an hour, with people coming and going, and he did finally get to see it go.)

Last weekend, at a local island festival.

There were four perfect little blue robin’s eggs.

We watched and tried to stay clear of it for a couple of weeks. Of course, I’m also trying to watch the kiwi vines for blossoms, so we can tell if we’ve got a mating pair and any hope of fruit or not, and quite a few times I scared the mama bird and she flapped off, squawking indignantly at me. I took a few more pictures here and there to see what had become of her eggs.

One day, I got a shock. First, I got this:

And then, suddenly, and with a high-pitched chirp, I got this:

They thought my camera was mama! Scared the life out of me!

And apparently I don’t learn, because I did it again a few days later!

They’re clearly getting a little bigger. I can’t tell how many there are, though.

A few days ago we discovered another robin’s nest, hidden in the blackberries we were trying to hack back, because we accidentally knocked two fledglings out onto the ground. They were probably only a day or so from being able to really fly, and they hopped and fluttered around a few inches above the ground. The entire local community of adult robins perched themselves in the surrounding trees and started yelling at us. They were mad. And there were lots of them. And they all cared about these little guys, it wasn’t just one mama. I had no idea they were so village-ish. Eric found one in the grass and managed to carry it back to the bushes where it was more camouflaged and hopefully safer.

I’m really curious about our kiwi vine nest now. I haven’t dared the camera again, but I’ve peeked in occasionally and can usually see a beak sticking up. I wonder how many there are and how soon they’ll be ready to leave the nest. ::sniff::

- – - – - –

I’m going to try an experiment. A post a day for a month. It may only be a photo, but I’m going to try to make posting a part of my daily routine.

I already take lots (LOTS) of photos every day, of things that strike me as beautiful, of the boys being silly or clever, of projects like the garden or my sewing, or just of things that illustrate something I love about my life. And I always think as I take the picture “I’ll have to blog about this!” And then I don’t, for a few days, and then weeks, and then I feel overwhelmed by the backlog.

So, a post a day in July. (It sounded better when a blogger I read did a post a day in May, huh? Oh well, I’m not waiting til next year.) Maybe current photos and words, or maybe clearing some of that backlog, we’ll see.