I Notice The Wrens Tea Kettle...

Think odd of me odd if you will. I love this weather… cold, rainy/misty, just enough air currents to cause gentle storms of leaves. Yellow and red cascades of leaves spinning or pouring from some large trees. It's been the kind of day most others would proclaim "nasty" and they make plans for a day indoors. To me, mid fall ought to be wet and breezy and cool. It just seems right. So rather than finding it "nasty" I find it quite beautiful and appealing. Outdoor functions shortened and less intense to be sure, but still, my day doesn’t consist entirely of nesting. (However, the alternative seems appealing as well. Building a large fire, put-over a pot of some kind of soup, or stew on the wood stove.) I have noticed that I like things in Nature to be in place, or maybe a better way to describe it is… I don't like for things to be out of place. One of the most unique emotions I have are those brought on by seeing or hearing something in nature that is "out of place". It brings forth in my mind and heart a very mild depression, which lasts only as long as the external event. Walking by the lake yesterday, in the cool, airish and damp morning, I heard robins singing up in the woods above me. It is a nature-sound that I associate with early spring… Perhaps a warm day in March. Likewise, a few days before that, a few red winged black birds were singing as they were beginning their evening roost. It was also out of place, and reminded me of deep summer rather than mid fall.

I don't believe these things are unusual, or caused by "global warming". I don't believe that the Earth is out of whack because these things are happening. I have experienced them, from time to time, my whole life. These birds, whatever species they may be, simply haven't vacated the area for the warmer climes south of us where they will winter. Still, the sounds leave me so slightly unnerved to be almost a pleasant sensation. The sounds transport my attitude; my heart to other places and times. And when I don't want to be transported (emotionally), I don't like it much. Especially when it is fall-time, my favorite. It may also be from an unattractive association. I remember once, my mother telling me that she did not care for the robin song at all. She said it reminded her of a time in her childhood when she was at a place she didn't want to be; I think visiting a family elder. Mom didn't say that the experience was traumatic - just unpleasant and she did not want to be there. I suppose she was deeply bored. Ever since that time, the robin-song reminds her of being at a place she didn’t want to be. I have memories like that - memories triggered by some external sensing. We all do. Some are good; some not. But what makes my dislike for spring and summer sounds heard in the fall of the year more interesting is this: When in spring, I absolutely love the robin-song. Yesterday, if it had actually been springtime, I wouldn't have disliked the sounds at all. I would have enjoyed the sounds. The same is true for the blackbirds I heard earlier in the week. I guess I like for things to be "normal". Nature is so very odd. The human mind cannot fathom even a small fraction of it. It is my opinion that our minds are incapable of understanding most of the Universe. And I don't mean we simply haven't discovered all of the equations and theories. I mean, in the most fundamental way, we are incapable of complete understanding, the same way my cat, Max could never understand calculus. This, of course, is one of the many things that makes life so wonderful.