Abandoned egg?

I'm a little worried about the nest that is just outside the bedroom window here. There was nobody sitting on the nest practically all day yesterday although my mother mentioned that late in the afternoon she saw the mother bird come and sit. But that was only for a few minutes. The nest remained empty today except for at least some ten minutes this morning when I saw the mother bird show up. She couldn't seem to settle down though and kept hopping in and out of the nest before eventually flying away.

The star of the show

Watching a few videos of pianist Cecile Licad on YouTube brings back memories of a fun incident during her solo piano recital at the 2002 Singapore Piano Festival which I attended: The audience was sitting during the intermission discussing the merits of first part of the recital when a piano tuner came onto the stage to tune the piano which had taken quite a beating--for Licad had just performed a demanding set of piano pieces by Liszt. A few murmurs and chuckles went through the crowd as the man went about his work. Then when he was done, the grateful audience applauded and gave him a cheer for his "performance". In response he grinned, waved and gave a bow before walking offstage.

MIA Father

A student applying for readmission came to me this afternoon to obtain my recommendation. His letter to the dean explained that his grandfather was the main breadwinner of their family because his father was "missing in action". But since his grandfather passed away recently , the student had to take on a job (which was mainly why he often missed classes) to help his mother who was now struggling to make ends meet and put him and his two younger siblings through college and another much younger sibling through grade school. I then inquired if his father was a member of the military. To my surprise he said that that wasn't the case. When he added with a meaningful look that his father simply "went missing in action" I realized what he meant.