Going to the birds
Two pelicans tucked into their wings in the first tree, 16 cormorants on the next tree, stopped counting at 36 ducks, 12 geese, one Great Blue Heron, seven American Coots, four squirrels, and one egret. This is what I saw in City Park this morning and it was uplifting because the day again is a grey day and again my mind is shattered into a million shards of pieces of my life. It took me a moment to realize that I was wearing the same hat I bought in San Francisco when I lived on Mason Street and instead of streetcars going by there were trolleys, and it was July, and colder than it is this winter day in New Orleans.
I had been thinking about Deacon John and when he sang Many Rivers To Cross at my mom’s memorial in November. It’s that sort of time of year, where the days are gloomy and it makes me somewhat gloomy. But really should I be complaining when the people who live up north aren’t walking through their parks while the lawn mowers are going – they’re buying salt and shoveling snow and dried up like prunes from being inside with the heat blazing or a fireplace sucking all the moisture out of the air. Like I have something to complain about?
So I counted the birds and my blessings and ambled on.