Five Things to Remember from April
For a few months, I've been posting about five things I'd like to remember from the month. April's are below, and at the bottom I mention the books I've posted about on social media.
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| What it looks like out there as I write this, more or less. Too bad you can't see the flashes and hear the booms. |
ONE. I’m reading a collection of essays that I don’t want to end. I knew I’d like it, and I’ll talk about it more on social media and link here. (Just ... not yet. I don't want to rush!) I knew I’d like it based on l the preview I got at the OLA Superconference over a year ago. Then I got busy and didn’t get to it until this year. Nevertheless, It’s been lovely, wending my leisurely way through it. And nice to have the confirmation that I still have an idea of what I’ll enjoy, when so much of what I thought I knew about the world has been in flux.
TWO. Boy, I thought March was a month that knew something about dithering. April gives it a run for its money. Weather-wise, I mean. Although I still consider the season of spring to be all about flowers, I’m learning (again? Do I learn this every year?) it’s more about returning birds and melting snow, with flowers merely a filip at the end. Although we're nearing the end and still no filip. Rain, though, which melts snow. They'll appear eventually.
THREE. Speaking of birds, juvenile bald eagles can be entertaining (huge and kind of graceless as they are) but they don’t play well with the geese and ducks gaggling out there on ice floes as the lake ice breaks up for the season. The juvies forage less in the water and more from the other birds. The geese seem to glide away, though, instead of teaching them a thing or two. Avoid rather than engage.
FOUR. “To what purpose?” It’s probably just a fancy way to say “why??” but it has the advantage of *feeling* new. So when I find myself NOT throwing something away (like instructions for something we no longer own), I ask myself this question. And when the answer is “for collage or another art project” I ask again, for a couple of reasons. First, "interesting" instructions appear with some regularity, so all I have to do is either wait or check the recycle bin. And second, I haven’t made a collage since the pandemic lockdowns.
But back to "to what purpose?": besides novelty, it feels more respectful than a bald and wailing “why??????” Note that this question also applies to "just checking" social media, even when I KNOW I'm irritating myself. I am better about it, though still reaching for my phone at completely unnecessary times.
FIVE. "Nature, red in tooth and claw" (Tennyson--I always have to look it up). We were reminded of this fact just yesterday. April is "birds hitting the windows" season. (Possibly not the only month in the year that it happens, or even the most common. Yet we've seen quite a few lately, as different types of birds return.) In any case, a lovely kingfisher attacked itself in our bedroom's picture window yesterday. It fell to the deck and was obviously stunned. Through the next hour or so, I was pretty sure it was dead several times, but then it would open and close its mouth or move its head from side to side or draw a wing nearer.
I had to leave before the denouement, but my husband said that a raven braved the deck (which they rarely do, contenting themselves to occasionally yell the birds at the feeder from the roof of the house or nearby bushes) and attacked. After a skirmish, the raven took off with the kingfisher, presumably because ravens have to eat. It's just one of those things. "Ravens gonna rave, rave, rave, rave, rave," (Taylor Swift) (not really, but she would if she knew how ravens are).
Books I've posted about on Instagram in April:
- Brian, Jeremy Cooper
- Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian's Journey Home, Chris La Tray
- The Prairie Chicken Dance, Dawn Dumont