Monday, January 3, 2022. Chores and tasks lay ahead. Laundry. Respond to emails. Make plans for a club meeting. Submit a column to the newspaper.
The column, a letter addressed to 2022, was written and ready for one more read-aloud. Then Husband’s edits: insert words I omitted or maybe add an s to a word I meant to write plural.
But Mother Nature gave us snow and Monday tasks and that column, fell to the wayside. I sat where I begin most days to drink coffee, list blessings, read a devotion, write notes, and watch a few birds. But Monday, I munched on grapes and drank coffee and stared outside for a long time.
Except for driveways and streets, everything was white – clean, brilliant, beautiful. Every branch, every twig, were laden with snow and many more birds came to our birdfeeder that is about 18” from my window.
Brown house finches ate quickly and flew. A downy woodpecker pecked into an open feeder hole as he would into a dead tree. A red Northern cardinal perched, but didn’t eat until a female cardinal sat beside him. Both held seeds in their beaks and turned their heads side to side before flying away.
A Carolina chickadee, smaller than the other birds, perched at the feeder’s top as if claiming ownership before he chose a perch and stayed a while. A tufted titmouse joined the chickadee, not giving up his perch quickly.
I didn’t immediately identify several birds about the size of house finches. Their dark charcoal -colored backs and tailfeathers set off their white bellies and orange beaks. Looking through my bird field guide, I found the junco, a sparrow that winters in the southeastern states. And I found a date I’d written when I’d spotted juncos another time: February, 2021.
Doves strutted slowly on the ground and picked up seeds that had been dropped by other birds. I admired their patience.
Then I learned my Grands across town were playing outside. “I’m coming over,” I texted Daughter. She responded, “Come quickly. After two hours outside, it’s almost time for hot chocolate.”
“Want to ride down the hill, Gran?” Lucy asked. While I considered how steep the hill was and the many trees, my Grand jumped onto her sled and flew down the hill. I didn’t sled or roll like a log down the hill or throw fistfuls of snow down anyone’s coat, but I did make the biggest snow angel and stomp a giant S while my Grand stomped all the letters to spell her name.
I lost miserably playing a game of UNO that went on and on because nobody, my four Grands nor I, wanted it to end. What’s better than sitting inside a warm house, wrapped in a blanket, and drinking hot chocolate after playing outside on winter’s first snow day?
Chores and tasks wait. Playing with Grands and watching birds do not.
And that previously written column? Maybe it’ll keep until next week.
Filed under: Play, Uncategorized, Winter | Tagged: Birds, January 3, Snow | 4 Comments »
The snow came down and the text messages flew. Daughter and two of her friends planned a sledding party. So right after lunch, nine children and their parents hit our backyard. Most suited out in snow pants and boots. Waterproof gloves and coats. Some with snow ski glasses and face warmers. The dads unloaded wooden sleds with metal runners and big round plastic discs. Quite different from the days when I was a kid.
Susan Writes 