About two years ago Adam, our nurse/photographer
son, discovered a family of Bald Eagles in residence beside the Lake, only a block
from our house and his (he lives a block away from us). That year and the next the mom and dad eagles
took turns sitting on two eggs in a huge nest.
Both eggs hatched and a little girl eaglet and a little boy eaglet grew,
battled wind and rain, and finally flew away, swooping low over the lake, to
become symbols of a great and mighty country!
In 2015 the same mom and dad eagles
deposited two more eggs in the same, although spiffed-up nest, and another set
of female and male eaglets hatched. This
time, however, only the girl survived.
The boy eagle was frail and uninterested in eating from the first, but
the female was large and strong. She
left the nest earlier than expected, soaring, gliding and shrieking along the
shore of the lake.
This year Adam was afraid to hope the
eagle family would return, although they tend to use the same nests many times
as long as they prove to be capable of supporting young eaglets. As we gathered for Sunday dinner around the
first of the year, Adam announced that the eagles were back at the same
nest. He left early after dinner to take
pictures of their cartwheeling/swooping breeding ritual and promised new and
better than ever pictures for our family.
They have become “Our” eagles! We love them and Adam’s gorgeous pictures
observing the beauty and tentative nature of their lives, and their tribute
to a grand country of strength and determination.
It’s too hot to cook on the stove or oven so the
crock pot is getting a workout. Today it
is chicken corn chowder. I’m simmering
fresh corn, potatoes, onions and garlic in the pot and almost ready to hit it
with the immersion blender, some sour cream and a little flour.
After that I will throw in chunks of
chicken from a three-day-old crock pot chicken and serve with a bit of yesterday’s
crock pot honey cornbread. YUM!!
Life is good.
