Doves on the Doorstep.

To really appreciate this, you need a little more background; not only is the dove a symbol worldwide for peace, life and innocence, our UU Fellowship is named in honor of the Palomar Observatory… and Palomar means place of the dove.

So about a month ago, racing in and out of the house with my teen and near-teen sons, I began to notice birds in the patio by the front entry. It’s not unusual; we’ve intentionally planted things that attract hummingbirds and provide food and shelter for a number of birds. But this was odd, because these birds were in the central area of the patio; always fluttering away from the table there, and the umbrella over it.

Eventually, it dawned on me that they were building a nest in one of the hanging plants that had been hung under the umbrella to get them out of the sun (so we could nurse them back to vibrancy after being sadly neglected). Only now there was the beginning of a nest in one of the pots.

At first I thought that they’d rapidly decide they’d moved into the wrong neighborhood and give up this spot. There’s no other reasonable way in and out of the house and with all the comings and goings… they were getting disrupted constantly. I considered just moving the pots under the eaves in a less trafficked spot….

And then they started sitting on the nest.

Indeed, there are now two eggs there, and one or the other of the doves sits on them all the time. They ignore us only two or three feet away, zooming in and out of the house (though we’re all trying to be considerate…).

We’ve got doves being raised essentially right in the entryway.

The symbolism’s marvelous; now all I need is to figure out how to get beyond the symbolism...