Crow feathers always feel like a message. Actually, most feathers feel like a message, generally telling me I should look up more often. That is one of the things I learned from my mother – look up. You'll see amazing things. In town, you'll see architectural details, and interesting things on fire ascapes. You will almost always see interesting clouds. At night you can find friends in the constellations. And as Alice has found, you can see a lot of different birds. She has a knack for spotting the really big ones: eagles, hawks and herons.
I also finished this piece today –
I can't remember where or when this particular feather arrived, so I'm reduced to titling the piece Mystery Feather. It might as easily be a chicken's feather as a red tail's – and I'd hate to guess wrong! This one will be mounted and framed and taken up to the gallery at the end of the week.
Alice's last day of school was today. They had a field day in the afternoon, so I went and retrieved her early. The woman behind the desk raised her eyebrows over skipping Field Day. I told her Alice would rather eat nails than have forced academic fun, and after a little thought she agreed with me. I haven't been so startled since Aerin first started middle school – I thought she was completely humorless.
The best thing about school vacation for me is not setting my alarm. Not having to wake up sleepy, grumpy children is also very nice.
Lee Thomson 