Old friends

Saturday’s outing was to the post office. I am tempted to refuse such brief excursions but seldom do as even such short trips serve to revive me and are often surprisingly interesting. Saturday’s sky was good.

And it was cleaning day, so escaping the vacuum was worthwhile!

Today, Sunday, the post office is closed and no outings are likely but I may have to take a walk to clear my head as I cannot seem to stay awake.

Hyper-somnolence has been a curse for much of my life. I was afflicted with it first in college and assumed it was due to sleep deprivation.

Falling asleep in lectures was embarrassing and most unproductive . I was equally likely to fall asleep while writing term papers. It is a wonder I graduated.

And that I did not crash my car, driving back and forth.

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Periodically, there has been relief, blessed episodes that were free of hyper-somnolence, but I’ve never known how to bring them about.

It would certainly be helpful not to have my sleep disturbed by needy animals and the early arrival of dawn which almost always wakes me. Perhaps I need not go charging out at daybreak but it is a time to be enjoyed.

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Even when the dawn is very modest.

It is lovely to hear the world awaken, the dawn chorus of birds and cocks crowing in the valley. Sometimes the gobble of a turkey down in the field.

And lately, the poor lonely peacock which lives on the hill above us. We hear it day and night, plaintively calling for a mate. Sadly, his calls are unanswered.

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Is the peacock distressed? They are social birds and this is their breeding season. One male may have a harem of 2 to 5 females, so yes, I suspect the poor creature is not happy.

Another voice we used to hear has gone silent which is a relief. We had not been here long when we became aware of a dog constantly howling and we soon worked out its location, a house down by the state route. That poor animal was kept outdoors in a small pen, day and night no matter the weather, presumably as a guard dog.

Sadly, there is very little one can do in such situations and we can only feel relieved that the dog is free from its torment. It is hard to comprehend how its owners could be so deaf.

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There were coyotes nearby when we first came here in 2018, but I’ve not heard their chorus for a long time. I became very fond of them, following The Daily Coyote for many years.

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A picture of Charlie arrived in my email every day, something I looked forward to, along with the latest photographs of Pale Male the red-tailed hawk that lived in Central Park.

His story is quite extraordinary.

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A friend had mentioned Pale Male to me and being a bird lover, I immediately became a fan.

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Lincoln Karim, who is mentioned in the film, had a website where he posted wonderful photos every day, mostly of the hawk but also of other birds and animals in the park.

Charlie and Pale Male were a tiny but important part of my life every day for a long time and I missed them so much when they were gone. I treasure their photographs and stories.

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Yesterday, I had a rare chance to photograph a Flicker as it poked in the grass. Not a perfect view, but you can see the exquisite pattern and colouring of the feathers.

It was in Marie Winn’s book about Pale Male that I first read about Flickers.

Which is what brought my old friends to mind.

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