Confessions of a Grandma

Honestly.  I never realized how much sparrows actually fly into the house.  I have my craft table set up in the garage during the summer months because it is spacious and a nice breeze blows throw.  Twice in the past week, though a sparrow has flown in while I was out there working.  The first one bashed around a bit and then found his way out, but he made sure to squawk at me like it was all my fault that he got lost. The second one had a harder time finding his way out.  He rattled around in the furnace vent for a while, then flew to the door.  For some reason he was totally flummoxed by the space between the top door sill and the open overhead door—just could not figure out how to go three inches lower and fly out.  He finally flew back into the garage and perched on the hoop of a fishing net Mike has hanging on the wall.  It must be that he was trying to tell me to scoop him up and take him out. The other day while I was at the library, M...

The white sparrow prompted me to do some surfing.  I learned a few things about  sparrows in general. Their Latin name is Passer domesticus.   The common name derives from the Middle English sparewe.   They are may also be referred to as spodgie, spuggy, or sprog. Sparrows are the most common wild bird on earth. They are used as a Christian symbol to signify the importance of all things in God’s eyes, and extending on that, as a symbol of God’s presence. In many European traditions, the sparrow is an omen of death.  If one flies into your house you should catch it and break its little neck or otherwise you will die yourself.  If a sparrow flies into your house and lands on your piano—that’s really bad.  You are doomed. (A sparrow did fly into our house once a couple of summers ago.  Mike picked it up and took it back outside.  Neither of us died, but thank goodness we don’t have a piano!) Both Chauser and Shakespeare referenced the s...