Cirque du Oiseaux

Dear Maria,

Greetings! Despite the cold air that funneled down from the northwest via a hard wind all day yesterday, spring’s momentum—here, at least—seems unstoppable. Saturday morning, while I was drinking a second mug of coffee, nature gave me quite the aerial show even before the sun broke above the neighbors’ roofines.

The pageant began with a solitary hawk doing a stately flyover from north to south, and next came the male bluebird who shot out of the bird condo and disappeared overhead in seconds. Daily he amuses me with his ferocity in defending his realm and with his bursts of flight that seem to advance and halt in equal measure. The field guide reports bluebirds attacking ground targets up to 135 feet away. Fierce and beautiful they are.

Next came two geese—their honking caused Max to turn his head—and after they disappeared to the east, a bright male goldfinch landed in one of the japonicas. Then a second and third joined him. Then, a fourth. A fifth. A sixth. And then two more. They fluttered about the bush, bouncing on stems, and they made for quite the spectacular display, a fireworks of yellow and green all mixing about.

And gone. For the coda, two doves floated overhead and landed on the back fence. They then dropped down into neighbor Frank’s yard and the show was ended. Not even ten minutes of my time, but worthy of savoring for the next few days. Of course, how often are some of the sweeter moments all too brief.

So far, I have refrained from commenting on charter schools save for a terse comment about the schooling of children becoming another commodity as corporations would have it and state legislatures allow. What a paragon of restraint I am.

Finished reading the Kass study of Genesis, have a long study of the history of slavery awaiting, but will most likely take on Phil Kay’s Redeployment next. Just remarked to a young friend that to be a life-long learner without class meetings and a pacing guide suits me just fine.

That you and the family are well would suit me even better. 

Yours, srk