Laowai

In the grass there are bits of balloons from when Claire and her friend had a water balloon fight.

But there are also lots of creatures. I sit in the hammock in the afternoons. I make sure to place the hammock in the deepest bit of shade and I read. But I get distracted by all the action around me. Today I saw a hummingbird. It was in the shrubs and not near any flowers that I could see. It was here and then gone in an instant – that's always the way with hummingbirds. Then I saw two small woodpeckers arguing in a branch above my head. A dove walking around along the edge of a flower bed. They always call out as they get spooked and fly up and away. Actually there were two doves. There are always two together. The other day I heard the chipmunks making a fuss and then I saw a fox run across the back yard – so close to me. What a surprise. I'm sure he was traveling his path that is the opposite of people paths. Paths that go behind garages and along the fences at the back of the neighborhood yards where he finds some cover. And the chipmunks seem to move along their own established paths too. Along the fence line, through the pachysandra against the house, at the edge of the lawn where the garden people use the weed whacker to make a bare dirt little ditch – so that when I watch them I just see a little dash of their tail that sticks up. And they run into the garage and out under the back door that doesn't open. I know you live there – you don't have to pretend like you don't. I checked on the striped caterpillar in my garden. First of all how did the butterfly find that one single leftover carrot plant to lay her egg on? I want to know. He had eaten all the leaves off the carrot top and I after a bit of searching I found him on the dill that was about 5 inches away. He looked fatter than just a day before. The robins – there are lots of them – they don't mind coming close to me to peck around in the grass. Sometimes one will be in the birdbath and he won't even be spooked when I open the screechy back door. The robins like to go in the birdbath and splash the water all around themselves. Then they fly up high into the locust tree branches. The squirrels who are so entertaining in the winter I don't see so much in the summertime. I saw a band of black birds (I don't really know what kind they are, just inky black and iridescent) they swooped in and then they went in my little woods looking for insects. They noisily tossed aside leaves as they went. A lady cardinal came to the same area later but she just looked through the leaves very quietly. So far the cicadas have not emerged this year. Probably they will come in July. Also, I've been reading poetry by Mary Oliver. She inspires me to take notice of the creatures in my back yard.