One of Aunt Sara's trademarks when she and Uncle Leland ran the farm was to ring the dinner bell for lunch. Of course they called it dinner back then and it was quite a mid-day spread. The bell is solid iron and you could hear it echoing throughout our valley when it rang.
We've kept the bell as a tribute to Aunt Sara and have it mounted on a tall post near our back kitchen door. This year a robin decided that the top of the post -- right under the bell -- was a good place to build a nest.
We love robins, but we fight with them every spring to prevent them from building nests in hanging plants. We also have to take down our signature brambleberry wreath that welcomes guests by the front door because the birds insist that it would be a perfect place to build a nest.
So we watched as the robins built the nest under the bell. This past week we noticed that the eggs had hatched and it's a crowded nest -- four chicks! They are surely ugly chicks for the first few weeks and they keep mother robin quite busy bringing worms and other food for the hungry mouths.
We will honor the sanctuary of the robin and watch as the birds get old enough to fly away.
Perhaps when the last one leaves the nest we will ring the bell in its honor!
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