He who finds a thought that lets us a little deeper into the eternal mystery of nature has been granted great peace. ~Albert Einstein
Don’t you just love nature? Love going outside to see what you might see? See what gifts the Lord might bless you with on any particular day? That happens to me often when I go walking with my dogs, Frankie and Marley. By the way, they say it was very, very hot when we went walking today. Or maybe that was me saying that. But walk we did. Didn’t see anything unusual, but perhaps the wonders were there. I simply forgot to really look.
Thank you all for playing my mystery game and guessing on the picture I posted on Wednesday night. Some of you were right. More of you were wrong. Several of you guessed a fence with weeds, hay, straw or whatever behind it. As you can see, it was the edge of a bird nest. It was very sweet of that little bird 
to use a twig that looked so very much like a fence or a lug wrench as a couple of you guessed. However, there were some sharp-eyed readers too who figured out what it was. So, way to go, Maria, Emily, Connie Lee, Jacinda and Lisa H.
I tried to find out which bird might have made this nest. Still not sure about that. I think it might be too small for a robin’s nest. Perhaps a finch or a wren. While searching around about nests, I found some interesting facts. Usually the female builds the nest and the male helps. But in some species , the male bird just sits on his branch and does nothing. In other species, the male does the building while the female watches. Could be he promised her a beautiful home when she agreed to fly away with him.
But seriously, have you ever really looked at those nests we sometimes find in our rose bushes or sometimes on the ground after a windstorm knocks the nest out of a tree? Those are usually last year’s nests. Nest construction is amazing. In days or maybe a week, the bird or birds make a safe little haven for their eggs and eventual hatch-lings. They do this with their beaks and feet. No handy fingers to entwine the weeds into a nice cup shape. Plus they have to gather up all the building materials. Birds can be very innovative with materials. The outer part of this nest is leaves and twigs, but the inner part where those eggs and eventual baby birds will be is soft grass. Sometimes birds “glue” their nests together with materials like spider webs, silk, mud, and even their own saliva. If you’re like me, you had no idea a bird could spit.
But perhaps the most amazing thing about birds and their nests is how different they all are. Each bird with its different feathers. Each bird egg with its unique design. Each bird with its own song or squawk. whistle or cluck. And the Lord God made them all. I was able to sneak some birds into my new book, An Appalachian Summer. One of those favorite quotes from the book is about Piper hearing the whip-poor-will. But Piper has a friend there in the mountains who is interested in the flora and fauna. So she tells her more about the whip-poor-will and how it doesn’t build nests. It just lays its eggs on the ground camouflaged in last year’s leaves. The bird too is able to sleep away the day camouflaged on a tree limb or in those leaves. You might step right beside it and never spot the bird. But I always loved hearing it sing when evening came. So I often include it in my stories. An Appalachian Summer gave me plenty of opportunity to let a few birds fly into the story. I’m thinking about a new story now that will let me invite a few birds into the scenes too.
Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young–even Your altars, O Lord of host, my King, and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they will still be praising You.
…Psalm 84:3-4 (NKJ)
Again, thanks to all of you who played my mystery game last week. A new mystery photo is up top. Remember, each time you make a guess on a new photograph, you get another entry in my book giveaway. You must be at least 18 years old to enter the giveaway. Two winners will get their choice of one of my books plus a grab bag book. We’ll play the game with the last mystery picture on Wednesday, July 15th and deadline for entries will be July 18, 2020 at midnight EST. I have one more mystery picture waiting in the wings. After that, I’ll have to rustle up some mysterious picture that might trick some of you.
So, what do you think the picture up at the top of this post might be? I’m ready for your guesses.
Thanks for reading and for playing my mystery photo game.
Comments 34
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Connie Lee, here we have another vote for blackberries. It is about blackberry time, for sure. I picked a few yesterday and added them to some peaches to make a cobbler. The question is, did I take a picture of them first?
Nancy, I like your guess. Not exactly sure what you might be seeing, but you’re definitely seeing something nobody else has seen, except maybe Lucy with her wrought iron fence guess. Wonder if you two have figured out what nobody else could. Wonder, wonder.
Una, you’re with the majority on thinking some sort of berries. We shall see on Wednesday.
Janice, blackberries again. I might have guess blackberries too if I’d been guessing although I might go blueberries. Not saying I’d be right, but I’d be in the majority.
Marji, I think you may win the prize for the guess that’s the most fun. Marley’s fur. Right color. Has curls. Had plenty of it. So we shall see if that’s right. On Wednesday.
Jacinda, you’re the first to guess raspberry instead of blueberries, blackberries or eggplant, but we do have that beautiful purplish blue black color. I do love black raspberries. I might have take a picture.
Emily, glad you thought the bird nest was a clever picture. It did trick some and didn’t others. Some of you are simply too clever. Could be your clever with your guess this time. Could be. Could not be.
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I’m loving all these guesses. Some of you are really exercising your imagination. Other are being influenced by the pretty color. That might work and it might not.
Elizabeth, you are right about it not being time for eggplants. But I could have a picture from the past. I haven’t promised current. Only mystery.
Hope, you’re guessing eggplant too. I’m so glad you’re enjoying my mystery photo game. It wouldn’t be much fun if nobody was guessing.
Lucy, I admire your imagination. What a great guess. Not saying it is necessarily right or wrong, but boy, it’s a nice imaginative guess.
Judi, it could be blackberries. Several of you have thrown that guess out. I’m glad you’re liking the game. Now if I can only come up with a few more mystery photos.
Amy, those black grapes are delicious, aren’t they? And I could have bought some and just happened to take a picture simply to try to trick a few people. Could be.
Marji, you write that with the confidence of a wild blackberry picker at some time in your past or maybe now. The blackberries are beginning to ripen.
Ola, I love how you used your imagination. I think we need to write that into a song or make it the first line in a book. “The moon coming up through the brambles.” For sure, I have plenty of brambles.
Loretta, are you ready for a fish fry? I love how you’re thinking out of the box. Wonder if I was thinking out of the box too.
Linda, here’s another blackberry guess. Could be. Could not be.
Karen J., you’re right there with Linda except thinking blueberries instead of blackberries. But the two might look very similar in a photo. We shall see on Wednesday.
Regarding the eggplant. Our son’s garden has been prolific with eggplant. He has graced us three times with eggplant from his garden in the past two months. 😊
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Good for him, Karen. Or maybe good for you. We tend to get our garden out late so we don’t generally have anything to harvest this early in the season although I’d love to have some tomatoes to harvest. I’m harvesting them at the fresh market stores now. 🙂
I think that it is a bunch of huckleberries . I really have no idea but that is what I thought they would look like if you took a close up of them.
A close up of cut up blueberries? 🙂 What a clever photo of a bird’s nest from last week, Ann! 😉 💜Psalm 80💜
I think it’s a black raspberry.
You have me stumped….again.
I’m going to make a wild guess, and say, it looks like some of Marley’s freshly cut curls.