The Missing Naturalist : Part Two

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If you read my last blog (April 29), you were given a list of my excuses for not writing in April with a projection that May, may prove no better. And so it came to pass.  Here it is, May 21, and I am finally finding a minute to send a new batch of excuses! I am presently in Urbana Illinois, just blocks from the lovely campus of the University of Illinois and having my idea of a 5 star vacation! 

My task is watching my daughters, fairly recently, rescued dog while she, her sister and friends gad about Peru, hiking Machu Pichu and environs. They are having a delightful time but then, so am I. Tuck is with me, and both dogs seem willing to let me determine our schedules with very little argument from them. Delightful!

I have travelled North in May before and find it the most glorious month to travel in.  Texas, which is getting rain in Biblical proportions, was greener than green with every dormant flower seed in bloom and, except for the slight distraction of downpours and threats coming over my phone to seek shelter (!), it was a beautiful ride. I would have preferred not to come in such a Pecos Bill method, practically riding a tornado here, but I DID arrive alive so I have much to be thankful for; another notch on my guardian angel, Rico’s, belt!

 

My joy also comes from being the captain of my own ship, a rare event in my everyday life.  I have a schedule of my own making with no “must do's” other then walking the dogs four times a day and cleaning and preparing my daughters things for shipping.  We have moved 18 times so this is something I'm fairly good at and bless my daughter for having NO pack rat tendencies. This townhouse, compared to a 4-bedroom house, is a piece of cake!

I did have great expectations of all the backed up paperwork I would get done here.  Growing up near the Cape, I developed a saying that I am “Going to the beach”.  What that means is, you bring tons of things that you MIGHT do; books to read, letters to write, but in the end, you would just lie on the warm sand and do nothing. Well, I've been here almost a week and it's the same thing. I brought a bag full of postponed paperwork, a promise to myself that I would finally organize pictures on the computer, that I would do yoga, that I would read about 10 books and so far zip, nothing of that nature has been accomplished. This “explanatory” blog is meant to kick start me into action. 

In April if I had time, which I didn’t, I would have written a blog called “Covered in Catkins”, the world was probably 6” deep in the prolific catkins of the Live Oak. 

 Nesting was in full swing and sadly I witnessed a “snatch and grab” of cardinal nestlings by a Scrub Jay.  Easy picking as this cardinal pair had chosen to nest in a spot that I could notice their comings and goings, but clearly the jay could too.  If you live in the north, perhaps those topics will be timely. My husband tells me that the catkins are now clogging our gutters causing an abundance of leaks in the roof. Stink.  Also, I hear the mosquitoes are thinking of putting in a pipeline to deliver our blood to other mosquitoes in drought stricken places like California. I am not sorry to be missing that.

Now, I must depart for a nearby, lovely dog park, peopled primarily by graduate and Ph.D. students.  One can count on some interesting conversations; my own private TED Talk experience.

Reporting from the Midwest, as MY schedule allows.  To my Texas friends, enjoy marveling at the mushrooms that must be popping up everywhere. My yard had an abundance of them when I left with wonderful half-moon bite marks that made me nostalgic for the mushroom loving, Box turtles of the Cape.  In Texas I would hazard a guess they were made by the omnipresent deer that, as we speak, are adding to their numbers.

Would love to hear what is springing up in your spring.  I think my email address is somewhere on this blog page.  May your house stay grounded and your cars not wash downstream!  There is a Hallmark greeting for you!