February 2, 2018

Bill and I put our bird-feeders at the back of the house, outside the kitchen door. There Bill mounted the large pole feeder for the sunflower seeds and hung the tube feeder for the thistle, and I hung the bluebird feeder which Bill at first laughed at, and then conceded that yes, it did attract bluebirds. We also suspended a large suet feeder from a branch; it has a long wooden tail and even the pileated woodpecker is attracted to it. Two years ago my cousin Carla gave me for Christmas two wire spheres to hold suet pellets, and I hung one outside the kitchen window.

In January I hung the extra wire sphere filled with suet pellets outside the living room picture window, from the hook where in the rest of the year a hummingbird feeder hangs. And now this late afternoon, with the sun light slanting low through the willow oak, the small birds are busy, clinging one at a time to the sphere, or scrambling on the ground in the flower bed searching for suet bits — Carolina wrens, tufted titmice, hairy and downy woodpeckers. The cats are mesmerized and so I am.

Praise be for small things.