Yesterday as we were tootling down the road toting the canoe on top of our van, I mentioned that I hadn't been so far from home in weeks, and my husband felt compelled to tell this story: An old couple who had been married more than 50 years were sound asleep in bed when a tornado picked up their house, carried it across the countryside, and deposited it two counties away. When the couple realized what had happened, the wife started crying, and her husband asked if she'd been injured. "No," she said, "I just realized that this is the first time we've been out together in 30 years!"
Well we haven't been quite that sequestered. We've been out--hiking, shopping, going to church, all at a safe social distance. But for the past eight weeks I haven't gone more than five miles from our Jackson home except for two brief forays into the wider world, road trips that were incredibly stressful because of my irrational fear of public rest rooms. After a relaxing canoe trip yesterday, though, I decided that it was time to overcome my fear and head back to our little house in the not-so-big woods.
The trip was easy and do you know what greeted me when I got home? Birds--tons of them--visiting our well-stocked birdfeeders. Goldfinches, purple finches, cowbirds, cardinals, bluejays, titmice, chickadees, sparrows, woodpeckers, more than I can count. A big handsome rose-breasted grosbeak kept visiting the feeder on and off all afternoon, and once I saw the female grosbeak pay a brief visit.
This morning I woke up not to the obnoxious beeping of the alarm clock but to a chorus of birdsong, which drew me out for an early walk before the rain started falling. Up the hill I heard wood thrushes at several places in the woods, and down by the creek I heard a Louisiana waterthrush. I got a couple of decent photos of what I believe is a yellow-throated warbler, but I can't upload them because I seem to have left the connection cord in Jackson. Oops. At some point I'll retrieve it and then there's no telling what we might see: blue-eyed Mary blooming at the edge of the meadow, hummingbirds buzzing the feeders, buckeye blossoms brightening up the woods, maybe even those wood ducks hanging around the creek.
I've missed my birds and I've missed my house, despite its inadequate internet connection. I need to get caught up on some spring chores that have been delayed, like cleaning the deck furniture and scrubbing algae off the siding, but on the whole it's good to be back in front of my big picture window where I can work on my writing projects and course preps while birds whirl and buzz around the feeders just outside. I'd love to show you some pictures but even without them, it's good to be home.
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