Going Crazy and Being Thankful

"The sparrows, wrens and robins are going crazy," reports my avianophile wife upon return from a trip to the usually deserted plaza down the street, the one that's catty-cornered from the ferry toll booths and across from Gracious Elderly Living. She goes there a couple of times each

Thanksgiving Evening Scene

day for a private moment.

"How do you mean that?" I query.

"They're all up in the trees, making noise and flying around."

"That's another thing to feel thankful for!" I can imagine us exclaiming; such is our exultant mood.

...

Two days later, the Arctic Cold Front has arrived, and I spy a fat robin under the juniper near The Little Family's front door. Another is perched on a cotoneaster at the top of the steps leading up a few feet from the sidewalk to our courtyard. That bird's just plucked and swallowed one of the plant's tiny red berries.

I share this observation with my astute spouse who opines that those rowdy birds she saw a few days ago were drunk on some fermented berries. Googled research suggests this habit belongs perhaps exclusively to young birds...or maybe they just can't handle the intoxicant like their parents. Another thing to feel thankful for.

Plus, it's another beautiful day!

Nippy today, down on the pier

I'll have to take a walk to the beach this cold and sunny noontime, where I can look over the calm waters of Puget Sound to the snowcapped Olympic Mountain range. My exercised wife has just come from the Senior Center down that way. Since the temperature has been dropping below 34 degrees, an overnight shelter for the homeless has been open there the past couple of nights.

The plight of those less fortunate is something to strive to amend even as we feel thankful for our own good fortune.