Dear Sweet Friends,
Late yesterday afternoon, I really wanted to send you a line or two, but the day was quite busy and went by extremely quickly! I walked out in the late afternoon with my camera, even though it was blustery windy and cold! I was met by quite a sight. Lots and lots of robins. Sweet little robin red breast x20 or more. Lots of sweet robins! As I tried to get pictures, I noticed something about them. They kept their backs to me. Whichever way I walked, they would turn away from me, but not really seem scared enough to fly away. And they all seemed to stay in a pack. It amused me to read this morning about American robins and to find out that in the evenings they gather in bunches to overnight and they are also quite brave in groups, watching out for each other and especially their young.
There was one lone robin, however, that sat under a tree, facing me, and watching me come closer and closer. Finally, when I got this close…
He turned and went under the trees and out of sight.
I think, based on this National Geographic illustration, that the robin above on the fence is a female. link source: National Geographic: American Robin.
Same on the chair. Ms. Female, turned sideways, will not look at me. (Hmmm. Wonder if I ever act like that.) I guess the male was watching out for the others? Who knows what they are thinking, really. As far as the robin’s song, it’s a sweet one, and they are some of the first to sing at dawn. They are abundant in North America and named for the European robin, which also has a red breast, though they are really not closely related.
Now. In other news, I have a very touching genealogy story for you. Some of you may know about my graphics website, where I post my vintage postcards. It is called Lynn’s Victorian Treasures. Whenever I share a postcard there, if there is writing on the back, I always include that too, even typing it out so that the search engines can find it. So it was that when I posted this postcard…
with this writing on the back…
I heard from a family member. While I did not share her personal information, I did include an addendum to the original post that a family member had contacted me! How exciting! But even more exciting was the fact that yet another family member saw the update and asked to be put in touch with her cousin “across the pond.” I put them in contact, with everyone’s permission, of course, and I ended up with a picture of sweet Mary, as in the M.R. Loonam on the card above.
How cool is that? Lot’s of things are labeled “cool” but that is really cool. 
Mary died in the 1950s (I believe), and she and her sisters all remained unmarried.
Well, I better run. Lots to do today!!
