“Let me get this straight —” Thalia stands with hands on hips, “free birds are going to willingly climb into a cage for dead, dehydrated worms?”

When Nia made the purchase she felt certain the feeder would solve their ravenous squirrel situation. “The promo video showed bluebirds feasting!” After more than a week, without a single mealworm eaten, she was no longer so sure.

“If they can get in, they can get out…” Calliope moves the feeder from the maple to the shepherd’s hook, then sprinkles protein-rich treats along the edge of the tray. “What we need is a courageous early adopter. Let’s give it some time.”

Calliope’s attention is captivated by a bumble bee that’s relationship-ing with tiny, yellow, spring flowers on the barberry bush. She invites Thalia and Urania to join her at the window with a whispered, “Come… come here. Look, look, look!”

Urania peers over Cal’s shoulder and wonders where Wisconsin bumblers spend the winter.

Having learned that wildlife is unnerved by her enthusiasm, Thalia suppresses a shout when a cardinal alights on a thorny limb carrying a piece of pliable plastic.

With mouths agape, the trio watches Mama bird disappear into the bush. She soon exits with an empty beak.

Calliope beams. “Looks like we have…”

“a front seat —”

“TO THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH!”

Led by Henrietta, the trio traverses HiLo Drive. The only traffic flies… or scampers on four legs.

“A blue jay and two robins meet in a thicket —” Inspired by a true event, Thalia puzzles for a punchline.

After a long pause Nia whispers to Cal, “Where is she going with this?”

“Not sure.” Calliope shrugs. “I guess she figures as long as we’re adding imagination to reality, it might as well be funny.”

“Terrible!” Urania moves to tear and toss the headless Northern Flicker.

“Not!” Thalia snatches their experiment from Nia’s perfectionist grasp. “I’m not finished.”

“Trying something new,” Calliope considers, “is an outside and an inside exploration.”

A note from LoveLetterist: I am very much enjoying Merlin Bird ID this spring. The free app can detect and identify the calls of birds within range of your phone. There are birds passing through my yard that I did not know existed… Brown Creepers, Yellow-Rumped Warblers, a variety of Kinglets, and more!

Urania steers past the exotics without a glance and heads directly for the tried-and-true grapes, apples, and honeydew melons.

“I want to try dragon food!” Thalia plants herself in front of the cart.

“Dragon fruit.” Nia can’t quell clarification.

Calliope picks one up. “The coloring is… delicious.”

Thalia heads for the trapeze.

Calliope cozies up to the big cats.

Urania studies the ring-mistress’ every move.

Welcome to the Big Top!

“Courageous!” Calliope estimates a five foot jump from nature’s floor to feeder.

Thalia moves to the window to survey the scene. “Creative! It used the hose reel as an intermediary jumping point.”

“Cripes!” Nia mutters as she slips on her jacket. “I’m going out to raise the bar.”

A note from LoveLetterist: Hours later the squirrel continues to catapult itself off the hose reel into the window. It must really prefer sunflower seeds to the abundant cache of last fall’s black walnut crop that’s scattered throughout the yard.

“Knock-knock!” Thalia calls from the front stoop after running outside to chase a fresh-from-hibernation chipmunk. “Knock! Knock!”

Urania rolls her eyes.

“I’ll bite…” Calliope grins, “Who’s there?”

“Beak.”

“Beak who?”

Thalia pokes her head through the open window. “Beak-a-boo!"

A note from LoveLetterist: The days are lengthening in the Northern Hemisphere. 🎉 In less than six winter-into-spring Wisconsin days, we’ve experienced a blizzard, a-full-melt-down, and today… 70+ degrees Fahrenheit.

Weather!
A metaphor for living?

Keep the jokes coming Thalia.
Get muses laughing and they can weather anything!

Three swallows conspire on a wire.

Heart aflutter, the first swallow whispers, “Here she comes! Do you think she’ll recognize us?”

“So habitual.” The second swallow twists her agile neck and yawns into her wingpit, “Same tennis shoes. Same dog. Same stretch of road. Same. Exact. Time. Every. Morning.”

“You,” the third swallow counters, “favor the thrill of adventure and unpredictability, but, if we want to be heard, we need an artist with a sharp sixth sense. We need an artist who has the discipline to pour her creative energy into this project. We need somebody craz— err… vulnerable enough to admit she hears us. She’s our girl.”

Pulled from her reverie by the synchronized motion of swallows taking flight overhead, Artist looks skyward. “Calliope? Thalia? Urania? Is that you? Please tell me you’re back!”

A note from LoveLetterist: In late summer the muses let me know they had a book idea… featuring none other than themselves. 🤭

We set to work, creating artwork with chalk pastels and fine-tipped markers. All the while I listened for the muses banter about what happens behind the lines of creative effort — enthusiasm, excitement, curiosity, frustration — the waiting and thrill that comes with reeling in inspiration 🎣to make something tangible.

Nia succinctly sums up Behind the Lines: muses on the move as a show-don’t-tell book about creativity.

Where can you find it?

I’ve moved into an independent author’s 🏡 on the World Wide Web!
You can check-check-check it out by clicking here.
The 🚪is always open.

The trio and I wish you merry and joy as we round out 2025 and 🤸‍♀️ into 2026.
Thank you for making space for us to pop into your inbox.

Happy Creating!

Urania pulls a chunky sweater over her head and spies Thalia barefoot — wearing a sun dress. “What on earth?! It’s ten degrees Fahrenheit with snow on the ground.”

Calliope shrugs. “Thalia’s enthusiasm is impervious to the weather.”

A note from Loveletterist: Last night, like a Geisha, with the tiniest of steps on curated feet, Henny and I took to the icy subdivision streets around 8pm. While out, we saw one UPS truck and two Amazon vans. Lo and behold — when we got back to our driveway one of the vans was about to make a right turn — ready to inch its way up to our house. I was expecting a book so I waved and blocked its entry.

A petite driver wearing a bright smile poked her head out of the van’s perpetually open side door.

“You don’t have to drive up!” I called. “Warning… my dog is pure, unfettered energy. She likes to jump on new friends so, if you’ll just set the package down, I’ll grab it after you go. I feel humbled by your effort… driving around in the cold and dark. Thank you for what you do.”

“You’re welcome,” she called before the van sounded its backup alarm and drove off to the next house.

What a time we live in, eh?

“Loooooooo-k!” Thalia spies a tiny flower embedded in the knit of her mitten. “It’s a sign!”

“Yes.” Nia tosses her mittens onto the shelf. “A sign that we walked through a wintering field of weed remnants.”

“Or…” Calliope considers, “a reminder that spring is on its way?”

A note from Loveletterist:

I had a follow-up appointment with my oncologist this week.
All is well — as best we can tell!

The visit reminded me of how the muses and their generous readers helped me through the dog days of c.

Thank you!

While Tal and Urania engage in a spirited arm wrestle, Cal rises above. She opens the folder titled Book 5, chooses snail, and hits the insert button.

Tan-lined and radiant from months away Thalia pouts. “She mayyy-d the book — with-owwwt us?”

Nią plucks a purple petunia and admires petals lined with perseverance. “She sure did.”

“We were here.” Calliope looks into the distance, “Anything truly loved… is forever present in the heart and mind.”

A note from LoveLetterist:

At first — missing muses felt like a relief.
Making us presentable to share our morning conversations —
takes quite a lot of energy. 😂

I was able to transmute the trio’s creative charm into Flit Flutter Float: a playful guide.

Since plunging the publish button earlier this week, Calliope, Thalia, and Nia have been chirping along with the robins, cardinals, and towhees.

“We’re back.”
”Dihhhhhhh-d you miss uhhhhh-ssss?”

Yes.
I missed them.
I welcome the trio home.
And even though we’ve shed the habit of daily letters, the trio has made it clear that they are not ready for full retirement.

Spontaneous, sporadic, and spur-of-the-moment…
I think that’s how they’ll roll.