I had a birthday last week. It was birthday-ish, with cake with sprinkles and a Buster Keaton movie and a moose. A real moose, four long legs and all, hanging out to say hi. We find signs of moose everywhere, but I’ve still only seen them in person a few times. Once when I came round a corner in a car and found a bull moose looking back at me, and another time when a very busy one trotted past us in the backyard, on her way to someplace important.
So that was good. We’ve also had a pair of Hooded Mergansers in the beaver pond of late. The male is quite handsome and a little full of himself. The female is lovely. For some reason the female mergansers, any variety, appeal to me far more than the males. They have beautiful cinnamon crests, and just look…I don’t know. Like a creature who has flown through the loneliest of places, a temporarily lost fairy queen, perhaps.
While the snow refuses to leave (we had yet another snow shower this morning), the sun continues to return. It is strong enough to warm the house during the day, and to make my winter coat seem a little foolish. I forget this every year, the fact that it is not that the winter decides to move on, but that the sun gains ascendancy. It’s comforting. There is no White Witch, keeping it forever cold and dark. It’s simply a question of waiting until the days lengthen and the sun rises and the birds begin to sing again.
When I was young and fascinated with astronomy, I was devastated to learn that some day the sun would run its course and be gone, and with it, us. That’s the trick of life though, isn’t it? Everything must run its course, and still we build and dream and sing and sleep and love and try to make the most of this impermanence. It’s not the lasting forever that’s important, it’s the passion we bring to our time here.
March 27, 2013 at 10:33 am
Okay… I’ve spent way too much time thinking about the classic children’s book “Make Way for Ducklings”. Do you know that story? Likely, my comment will make no sense if you haven’t read it recently, but your New England blog, ducks, and gender distinctions got me all worked up about it, I guess.
I remember the story as a child and have read it many times as an adult. I always find myself reading the father duck in a regret-filled, exasperated voice. After all, he’s, like, “Yo, wife! I’m ditching you and the chicks for a week while I go off and, er, do important things”. And then when Mama and the chicks make it to the Boston public gardens, derelict papa duck is there in the distance looking totally miserable. I imagine that he’s thinking, “Curses! They made it!”
Indeed, the wikipedia entry about the story even has a section on gender roles.
Whatever. Still, I love that book.
Oh yes… And happy birthday and happy Spring!
March 27, 2013 at 10:41 am
I do know Make Way For Ducklings–very well, actually. I can totally hear the father’s annoyance that once again his family has tracked him down. This morning there were turkeys out on my father’s lawn. The tom had his full display on, tail and wings and doing a little shimmey. The hens gave him a bit of a look and then turned their backs and walked off in unison.
I love Robert McCloskey’s books, though my favorite is Time of Wonder. I’ve been thinking about taking the kids on a walking tour of Boston soon, and the statues of the duck family will definitely be a high point.
March 27, 2013 at 1:54 pm
Oh, yeah! I remember Time of Wonder from my childhood, as well. I have not seen it in years, though. I’ll have to look around for it.
March 27, 2013 at 9:49 pm
Happy Birth Day! 😀
March 27, 2013 at 10:20 pm
Thank you! 🙂 I’ve been thinking of you lately–good healing thoughts.
April 1, 2013 at 11:18 pm
So true. Thanks for sharing.
April 5, 2013 at 2:50 pm
You’re welcome.