winter forest

Today was warmer than usual and i was surprised to find a clutch of eggs under the deck stairs. I had no idea the hennies were laying again. I scrambled the surprise eggs and offered them to the the dog i am babysitting for an out of town friend. A turkey hen was startled by my unexpected guest, and as the dog charged out this morning the giant hen flew up to the closest branch. whump whump whump was the sound she made, like a slow motion helicopter. her flight both awkward and elegant. she seemed a creature from another time, almost too large for the tree branch on which she perched, the proportions all wrong.

Sapsuckers have returned to strip little saplings of their nectar and the goldfinches are legion. The tips of daffodils and crocus are piercing the earth to show their pale green tops, still flexible with newness. the snowdrops, too are punching through to the light. white-tailed deer were in the field earlier and my guest dog tracked the path they took to the woodlot across the creek. the deer have eaten all the tops of the hydrangeas i got from the arboretum to use for reference on the botanical garden project. the light is changing and soon the field will go brilliant in color and i will have sun again as the suns path moves higher into the sky. i could never love life more than i do in this very moment, though the absence of the yellow dog still weighs heavy on my heart.