I hear those words from my husband at least once a week. Usually relating to the weather or the scenery. Today we went to Percy Warner Park in Brentwood to enjoy some nature. They have a really good nature center displaying the birds and wildlife that can be seen in the park. We saw everything from a baby skunk to snake skins. There are several trails to follow and we choose one of the shorter ones so we wouldn’t end up carrying two kids back. The girls had fun just wandering the path, seeing wild strawberries, spotting chipmunks, squirrels and birds. We stopped and threw about 15 dozen rocks into a creek and enjoyed a picnic in the Tennessee breeze. I think that is when I heard, “I love Tennessee.”

The other thing Ethan loves here is that his patience for birds has finally paid off. After staking out his bluebird box for months, keeping it free from sparrows, we finally had a bluebird couple move in, make a nest and lay eggs. Though Ethan found one of the tiny blue eggs on the ground with a hole in it [stupid sparrow], mama bluebird is still guarding the other eggs. You can see her flying back in the bluebird box after I scared her out of it. She didn’t go far, but watched her eggs from our fort waiting to return.

Then with no help from us, robins made a nest on our front porch. It is great, because we can watch them from my office window without bothering them. Here are a few shots from in the house, then I decided to go outside.

I was able to get a good look at the four babies, and mama sat nearby watching. Then I think she had enough. I don’t know that she was really coming for me, but it was enough to scare me back inside. I guess her plan worked.