Who’s Watching You?

The squirrels are at it again.  This weekend, we changed the layout of our school room.  We have one large window in the room and two smaller ones.  We love to keep the windows open – to hear the sounds of the squirrels scampering across the fences and hear the birds in the neighbor’s feeder.  We have all sorts of birds this time of year – from blue jays to woodpeckers, doves, finches, sparrows, red robins, crows, and lately we have been sighting some seagulls flying overhead.  So yes – even though we live in the suburbs, we do see some signs of life aside from the neighbor trimming his lawn 🙂

 

It seems we are always noticing things out the window.  It makes me thankful we have them – I love to have the morning light streaming in and to feel the gentle breezes.  We have thought of moving our school room downstairs, but the thought of losing our windows stops the conversation in its tracks.  Yes, we actually contemplated this over the weekend, but no go!

 

This morning I was reminded why it means so much to me.  I need to have some connection to the outside even if I am stuck inside.  I need the view, the breeze, the sunshine, the birdsong.  We work hard with our schoolwork, but for moments at a time our attention can be diverted to life that is going on outside.  While most schools would look down on such behavior – it is what invigorates us and keeps our spirits high even though we are buried under a tone of work.

 

So this morning, I was drinking my coffee while my son was answering a question when I saw the squirrel outside on the fence.  I wonder, how many times do people watch these creatures and just change their view immediately?  They are curious creatures, I have found.  We have two that roam across the fences behind our house and the neighboring houses.  In Spring and Summer, you find them playing and this time of year, they are usually working to gather nuts and hide them.  You will also find them start to gather leaves once they fall – we have even spied them taking leaves that have yet fallen off the trees.  Precariously, they climb up and you find them upside down on a leaning branch while pulling with all their might to gather the leaves that are still hanging.  There are plenty of leaves in the backyards – but I’m assuming the neighbor’s cats have made them more cautious.

 

Now you would wonder – what makes this so special?  Why would you even bother to write about a squirrel on top of a fence?  I see that every day.  Yes, it is a common sight – perhaps, but he was perched on the fence closest to our window.  He was looking inside and watching us go about our business.  He sat there, curiously watching and taking moments to nibble on a nut he held in his hands.  I cannot tell you how many times we have found him staring through the window – wondering what we are doing.  He even climbed up near the kitchen window once and scared the heck out of me.  There I was, doing the dishes – when I notice two small eyes staring through the window.  He was mesmerized by the small solar dancing flower we had gotten that week.  His eyes just followed the motion of the flower while his tail twitched 🙂

 

I could not help myself, I took a few shots.  Unfortunately, the closer he got – I had to stand on tiptoe to look over the window, so I missed those shots (too blurry) but he was seriously close.  Perhaps I just wonder too much, but I would not go as far as to say it is a bad thing.  For me, I am glad he is part of our experience every day.