The Cranes

Saw thousands of cranes at Goose Pond yesterday.  Sand Hill Cranes.  We also saw a hawk flying low, along the road.  I'm having a hard time identifying it.  Might be a Roadside Hawk.
It was about 15 degrees when we were out there, which really didn't allow for much lingering, as we searched for the Hooded Crane, a rare and mysterious bird that has lost its way (FROM RUSSIA AND JAPAN) and is hanging out in Indiana with the Sandhills.  Still, I'm pretty sure it was out there, and I probably did see it.

On a more important note:  Today I read the obituary of Patricia Stephens Due, a civil rights activist who believed that "ordinary people can do extraordinary things."  She wrote a book with her daughter called Freedom In the Family and she wanted to give attention to the movement's  "unsung foot soldiers."  These are the folk I've been teaching the kids at Artful School about---people who marched and protested whose names we don't know.  I will share her story with the kids along with my next book for the One Book, One Fairview Project.  I think it's going to be Freedom On the Menu, because Patricia Due also desegregated lunch counters.  She basically spent her life fighting for civil rights.  Today I'm giving Ms. Due her due, with gratitude and respect.