As told by Maureen

Phoebe Grace is an explorer, an explorer with an inquiring mind.  She is always asking questions that begin with how or why?  She can usually be seen with a little notebook tucked in a bag over her shoulder.  She's afraid that an idea will escape her if she doesn't quickly jot it down.  For you see, Phoebe Grace likes to experience for herself the answers to her questions.

 Just last Thursday I was out picking the old blossoms off the Verbena in the front porch flower boxes when I spied Phoebe Grace sitting precariously at the very end of a lilac branch. I didn't want to startle her, and yet I was intrigued by what she was doing.  So I worked my way to the end of the deck and sat down on the steps, right near the lilac, to take a break.

 Now, being that Phoebe Grace is so curious about all kinds of things, including people, I knew that it wouldn't be long before she joined me.  And it wasn't.  I inquired about why she had been perched there so dangerously, and she showed me a page in her notebook.  There she had made two columns, one labeled THINGS BIRDS CAN DO, the other labeled HOW IT FEELS. It seems that she wasn't content to just study the birds. She wanted to FEEL what the birds felt.

 And so this week she was living as much as she could like a bird.  The actual flying had her stumped, but a Bluejay had offered her a piggyback ride.  She had eaten breakfast with a family of half‑grown Robins (yes, worms!), and later today she had offered to sit on a nest of Cardinal eggs for a few hours.  She had been wondering what birds thought about when  they sat on nests all day.  Did I know?

 Of course, I didn't.  But later that day I took out a notebook and wrote two lists.  One said THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO TRY.  The other said HOW IT FEELS.

© 1995, 2006 by Maureen Carlson
All designs and stories by Maureen  may not be reproduced in any way without expressed written permission.