You know in Brittany France this time of year it doesn’t get dark till after ten p.m. at night. The birds chirp right up to the end too.
I would listen to them in astonishment, even when it was dark. They would be so beautiful singing everyone to sleep. It made me think New England birds get a lot more rest. I can remember watching this little French country bird sitting in a cherry tree singing his little heart out, like raising way up and singing so that his whole body shook happy to hit those high notes. I can remember thinking well here he has this cherry tree and several types of peach trees to bee bop around in, never mind all the fields. If you are a French bird all you have to do is stay away from all the cats and it’s a nice life.
Which brings me to this morning, on Cape Cod where the birds are not singing so sweet. As a matter of fact the bluejays make me want to cut down all my trees. I can’t stand the racket. They are really getting under my skin and pretty soon I just can’t be responsible for future actions.
They are not all jays here though. On a happy note the female cardinal has moved out of the nest in my outside shower for the time being. So i can shower without fear of attack. Actually she was pretty good about it. Whenever I came over to use the shower she flew right out and chirped down at me from a nearby oak. I never knew there were so many birds in these woods. It has been two years since I have had a cat and I see and hear the difference in the yard.
Sometimes I think back to places i have lived and traveled to and for some reason I always notice the birds?
From the swallows darting like acrobats among the vineyards in Tuscany to the roosters waking me from their barns in Brittany. The “blackbirds singing the dead of night” in Dingle Ireland just like the Beatles said.
Checking my luggage in a rent a car at a strip mall, just outside Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris some sparrows even taught me a lesson before a flight last year. I was watching them dart in and out of some hedges bordering a parking lot. Living happily among the concrete and asphalt of a strip mall, they could be anywhere. So close to the fountains of Luxembourg Gardens, and the parks and cafes of Paris. They choose to live in a hedge by the airport.
Oblivious to life’s possibilities.
your clemitis look great! I remember how Jarrod hated using your shower!