This Saturday morning, the day after the Commander's birthday, I am here by myself (and he is in Oakland by himself....seems we are always apart on his birthday, given his line of work). I am not exactly by myself, really, as the sky is wild with families of sand-hill cranes heading south toward the Bosque del Apache; this week is the Sand-hill Crane Festival and they seem to know it! Rather, they possess an age-old instinct to travel the sky above the Rio Grande to their winter home in the mild, fertile bosque, as "their people" have done for centuries. Every few minutes, I hear the loud "honking" of these magnificent birds! I race to a window or throw open a door, just to get a good look! Now and then, I see that instead of cranes, the troop overhead is a large "V' of Canadian geese. I can't yet tell the difference in their sound, but there is no mistaking the image; the cranes' long slender, grey bodies and long legs.....gorgeous! The geese are pretty too, and fly in tighter formation, seems to me. They often land in the field west of our place. Must be good eats in that field!
It is a joy to be living back in NM. I am never alone, what, with the scraggly coyote, the occasional skunk, the sweet little birds, and the magnificent large birds of autumn! Add to this, the frequent company of family who live here, and the knowledge that our boys and their little families are living their dreams in other locales, for now, and I am one contented "Little Bird" myself!
Gotta run! I hear honking!!!!
