nests...

It's been a long week. Late meetings, lots of angst and wrangling, lots of people feeling blue with all this rain coming down. And a tornado just a mile or so from work/church, in the midst of it all. And a few moments of completely hilarious wonder and peacefulness and guilty hope.

I went to the lake. I mentioned this on the other blog, we had three nights up at Mille Lacs, and I brought the work in progress with me, did a little hand-stitching -- not much, just filling up a ten or 20 minute gap here and there between trips to the shore and bird-watching and kid-watching.

Right outside our cabin door, hanging above the patio, was a spent Oriole nest. My husband first pointed it out to me -- it was just above the sightline, and I was so preoccupied with the big lake's long horizon line that at first I didn't see this wondrous little weaving right in front of me. Ron explained a bit of how the Oriole weaves her nest from fibers and grass and bits, makes a little basket for her eggs and self; and after the young birds have flown, the nest is abandoned. But -- each year, a mated pair will return to the same nesting area, and very often the same tree. The Oriole will tear open her old nest, throw out the dirty bits (poop, mites) and save the solid shreds for re-weaving, into a new nest that is structured from fresh materials.

I love that. I want Oriole nests in my work now, in this moon-bird-cats-hair-nest-eggs thing. I have a plan.

But, I haven't picked it up all week. Sunday and Monday were busy -- returning home, catching up -- and then Tuesday and Wednesday were both 12 hour days at work. Here it is, Thursday already, and tomorrow will be another busy one.

Fortunately I have next week off. I can and must work in some time for sewing, between Monday and Wednesday; Thursday we'll go to the Fair, and Friday...maybe I'll go to the Fair alone, I don't know. Have to check the calendar. Hopefully daycare won't be closed. But Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday for sure. Maybe even this weekend, if I'm lucky. It's hard to do this stuff at night, though I should try. It's not my most creative time.