Nest Building: Waste Management

Thought I would start with a series of interiors around my home with a focus on the bathroom. I am starting with the bathroom for several reasons which I should not have to list simply because you own a bladder and most of you have a colon and therefore understand the beauty of indoor plumbing, the act of the flush. Oh and hot water, lawdy, I love hot water.

A couple of years ago I placed my cheesy but cheery! fake egg wreath on the front door when I noticed a dear sparrow building her nest. All use of the front door was banned during the two months it took her to build, lay and rear her clutch. We watched and counted eggs.

We marveled at the little tender hatchlings that would make even a mother regurgitate her bolus.

Quickly the nestlings grew with all those good mama's meals. I became fascinated by the instinct the birdies had to eliminate wastes. As a zoology instructor I can say a lot about bird waste, however I never thought about waste accumulation and nesting.

The wee birds, only days old, turn around in what is a very cramped space and excrete off the edge of the nest. I was thrilled by this discovery. How beautiful is it they instinctively avoid toxic waste build up? Biology has always been my best church.

So with homage to the great outhouse designer in the sky, I present some bathroom images from my own nest. Yes, I am going to keep up the pithy avian references.

A place to sit.

Means to flush.

Handles to grasp.

To draw a bath.






Scents to employ.

A view to enjoy.

Mirror, mirror on the wall.









The most beautiful bathroom of all.

I know where the caged bird pees...

Eggs

Perhaps I am naturally drawn to birds, maybe it is because I have an undergraduate degree in Zoology or have taught zoology, or I am named Robin or am fascinated with ovaries...whatever the reason, I have always been intrigued by eggs and drawn to ovals. My china even bears an oval filled, of course, with flowers.






Many of the fabulous blogs I follow are including chick pictures, nests and such for this time of the year and of course the Easter holiday. The egg is my focal point now and here is my parade of some...




Here is an egg I made on a pillow above the word 'nest' one of my favorite words...






In my shell pink milk glass goblet, sits an egg...






which nests....




More I have made...






And old German egg by my robins which shake salt and pepper ...

A needlepoint pillow from my mother....

Like the potential of an egg, here is a gift from my mother, a Martha Stewart tin with sets of soaps in egg shapes. It was packaged so beautifully I could not bear to open it. I miss her catalog...

The front door...

Here is to spring...

World Autism Awareness Day

This day 2 April is World Autism Awareness Day. http://www.worldautismawarenessday.org/site/c.egLMI2ODKpF/b.3917065/k.BE58/Home.htm

Because autism is so prevalent, many of you are aware of it already, daily, often painfully. Many of you are unaware of the quiet struggle that this and other related challenges bring.

My sweet brother Kerry. Once diagnosed with severe mental retardation, at a certain point his diagnosis changed to autism. He doesn't speak. He has never said my name. He doesn't acknowledge hello or good bye. He lives in a community with others with severe disabilities. There is so much he cannot do.

What he can do is enjoy a meal. He loves meals and sweets. He can enjoy his rest. He dutifully puts on pajamas and sleeps with reckless abandon. He has a job and works 32 hours per week at a recycling plant because he is able to focus for long periods on repetitive tasks. This trait I definitely share with him. He uses the money he earns to buy Diet Coke which he slurps with joy.

He does not complain about work. He does not complain about his hair. He does not complain about his weight. He doesn't care what car you drive, where you live or that his shirt says "Polo." He does not know there are people who receive millions of dollars to stay at a job they are doing poorly. He does not know the hunger and rapes and abuse throughout this world. He does not know the oceans are full of plastic that we keep throwing away like it doesn't matter.

He doesn't know people recklessly use the word "retarded" to describe stupid or ugly. But I do. He cannot say "don't use the "r" word. But I can.

Here is to Kerry and a brain he could not use at his own will. And to you who can.