Nesting...

During the past few months, I have become obsessed with nests. Birds' nests. Especially little ones. When I go out for walks, I take lots of photos of nests. It must drive my beloved Kristiana crazy that every few minutes I stop and stare at a nest, then pull out my camera and try to capture the fragility, the beauty, the precariousness of those remarkable feats of architecture.

that might be a squirrel's nest

how high is that???

During these months when the leaves are gone from the trees, nests are more visible. I'm amazed at how small some of them are, how impossibly located on impossibly thin branches at impossible angles. And yet, despite all the impossibilities, there they are. Nests. In trees that have lost all their leaves. In trees that have lost many of their branches in windstorms and thunderstorms. There they are. There they remain.

what is that nest connected to?

How do birds do it? Who teaches them how to make nests?
How do they build nests that don't fall out of the trees?

the nest of a brave bird

Sure, sometimes they fall. But aren't we all amazed and saddened when we come across a nest sitting on the ground, turned upside down? Instinctively we know that nests don't belong on the ground. They belong in the trees.

 hovering over the sidewalk next to a busy Charlotte street

two views of the same nest

How do nests withstand storms, wind, and the ravaging of squirrels? Roofs fly off, but nests remain.

the upside down bird's nest on the front door of someone I know

I'm feeling a little like that bird this evening...

Anyway, after 37 straight days of blogging, 38 counting today, I'm gonna take a few days off to do some nesting of my own, to feather my soul's somewhat battered nest. I won't be gone long. Truthfully, I may be back tomorrow. But this much I know for sure: I won't be blogging everyday for the next 38 days. These aging fingers and this unquiet mind of mine need to rest for a while.


Have you ever stopped to pay attention to nests?
How is your nest?
To whom or what is it connected?
Who or what will keep it from falling during the next storm?