Archive for June, 2012

Little Birds and Midnight Lightning Strikes

I’m taking a quick break from writing the last few chapters of The Curious Fear of High and Lonely Places and angsting about book sales, the internet, and other things I can’t control to tell you about two awesome gifts nature has granted this weekend.

The first happened on my night walk on Friday.  I don’t normally walk at night, especially on a practically moonless night like Friday night was, but because of my day job, a trip to town to buy dog food and other exciting necessities, and a visit to a very kind friend who let me pick blackberries and claim a cabbage from her garden, I didn’t get home until after dark.  So my daily walk was by necessity at night, and I’m sure glad it was. 

Summer stars blazed overhead, fireflies flickered in all the trees like Christmas twinkle lights, and way off in the distance, lightning flashed purple in the thunderheads of a retreating storm.  It was one of most gorgeous night walks I’ve ever experienced. 

The second gift happened a few minutes ago, and I wish I’d gotten a picture.  I was on the phone with a friend when I looked out the front door and saw two fledgling mourning doves huddled together on my deck.  I have a soft spot for young birds, having hand-raised racing homer squabs when I was a kid, and these two babies were so cute, looking around at everything with their bright new shoe-button eyes.   Apparently siblings, perhaps on their first journey out of the nest.

I went out on the deck and they stayed perched there, watching me for at least a good minute before deciding I was a suspicious character and taking off for the trees.   Then I realized, looking around, that their nest was above my living room window!  I had known there was a bird nest somewhere near the front of the house–I’d seen mama bird making her rounds and heard some peeping, and it had been driving me crazy, trying to find this nest, only to discover it was above my window this whole time.  How miraculous that I was home and in just the right part of the house to witness their venture to my deck.    I’m taking it as a sign to stop angsting and get back to work on my book, which is, among other things, about birds.  Birds that have been nesting in my imagination for the last three years and are almost ready to take flight into the world . . .

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