“May is a pious fraud of the almanac.”
From the window near my desk, I get a view of the bird feeders closest to this end of the deck. This morning I saw the first Baltimore oriole of the season. Because I knew the oriole feeders needed jelly, I sprinted to the deck with spoon and jar and filled the two feeders. Later, I’ll go buy a few oranges. I hope the bird is enticed to return.
It’s a sunny day and warmer than it has been all week. According to the paper, we should have weather in the 60’s through the week-end, but I’m skeptical. Spring on Cape Cod is capricious.
Dogs roamed when I was a kid. My dog, Duke, knew his way home from anywhere in town. He even knew his way home from the next town. My aunt lived four or five blocks away, and Duke used to visit, meet up with his son Sam, my aunt’s dog, and the two would roam the town together. Sam was much bigger than his father, and he smiled a huge grin. Duke was somber. They were the gentlest of dogs though they looked fierce as boxers do. I remember a phone call from a frantic woman trapped in her house by Duke and Sam. Her dog was in heat, and the two boxers were sitting in front of her house, waiting and hoping. The woman was afraid to leave. My dad brought both dogs home. They went back the next day.
When I was in the fourth grade, the school had double sessions. We alternated. As fate would have it, I got the morning session in the cold, dark winter and the afternoon session in the spring. I remember warm afternoons when my teacher would open the tall, wooden windows which framed the classroom on two sides. I sat at a desk in the back of the room and could feel the sun’s warmth as it streamed through the window behind me. I could hear voices from the schoolyard where kids were playing. Arithmetic lost its allure. I longed to be outside in the sun, but I had a bit of a wait. The end of the school year and freedom were a long month away.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
May 13, 2010 at 12:12 pm
We have no birds over here that wants jelly to eat, as we have no hummingbirds either. But I heard the first Cuckoo this morning and I saw the first swallow 🙂
My Orvar stays at home nowdays. My neigbour has no horses any longer and he loved them. So nowdays he just jumps over to the fence but stays close.
We never had any double sessions in my school, to be honest I don´t think I´ve ever heard about that over here. I would have hated having the late session since I´m a morning person 🙂
I had to start my radiators today. The rain that came made it feel cold and damp indoors. I´ll try to find something to the stove tomorrow, that heat is so much nicer than the one the radiators gives. They have promised rain the whole weekend soi´ll stay indoors rather much I think.
Have a great day now!
Christer.
May 13, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Christer,
The Baltimore oriole loves grape jelly and oranges. I have two feeders which offers both to the birds. No cuckoos here or swallows either.
Gracie got lost the last time she jumped the fence. By the time I found her she was wide-eyed and foaming.
I too had the heat on this morning. Nothing better than staying home on a rainy, cold day and being comfortable.
May 13, 2010 at 1:31 pm
My grandparents lived about a mile away from us but we were seperated by a village and a very busy road.
Their dog Perry, who was by nature a bit of a roamer (and supposedly begat our dog Andy) would frequently appear on our door step. We thought little of it until he would still make the trip when his sight left him.
One of my favorite Perry stories is of a neighbor who awoke one morning to find an extra dog on her bed…
May 13, 2010 at 9:58 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I think it amazing he could maneuver sightless. Dogs are remarkable.
That’s a great story! How funny to wake up with an strange dog no your pillow.
May 13, 2010 at 4:40 pm
My Mother had a cat she named Solomon and he was a beauty to behold as Siamese are a pretty special breed. But one day he got out onto the patio and a Boxer dog came rifling through the yard after him, threw him up on his face and Solomon pulled both his eyes out with his claws. The dog ran so crazy, yelping and in a zig-zag, to the woods and knocked itself out by hitting its head on a tree trunk. By the time the owners got there and we learned this was a national show dog that had gotten loose at a neighbors house, my Mom and Dad just knew a law suit was coming. It never did and the owners never asked for any money. I watched the whole thing at age 15 and couldn’t do a thing to prevent it. I even ran after the dog and when it hit the tree, ran back home to call the police. It’s all I could think to do. What a memory that is.
May 13, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Z&Me,
Having had boxers all of my life, I found this a sad story though understandable. My boxer, Duke, was not a lover of cats and chased them every chance he got, until he was much older when we got a cat of our own. Duke saved it from another dog by getting between our cat and the menacing dog and daring that other dog to move. It didn’t and left with its tail between its legs. That’ the boxer-cat story I’ll remember.