Behind the Ironic Column

It’s been a long, gray, rainy, January Monday.  You can deduce from that string of adjectives that it’s not my favorite kind of day.  I’m not sure if being Monday makes it worse, or if the fact that the sun actually appeared yesterday makes today’s dreariness more pronounced.

For whatever reason, I’ve been feeling more than a little depressed.  Sitting at my computer wading through emails (some of which I might need later but don’t feel inspired to read now) hasn’t sparked any great feeling of enjoyment either.  It’s getting close to the end of a day that wasn’t very bright to begin with.  Just as the dim light is shading into darker gray, a flurry of wings on the balcony lets me know that a bevy of bushtits have arrived.  These tiny gray birds only travel in groups this time of year – perhaps they’d be lost in the grayness if they went about singly. 

I have  a suet feeder on my balcony and they’ve discovered it by whatever mysterious process they use to divine suitable food.  A dozen or more of them fly in and perch on every available flower pot edge or chair.  Of course all of them can’t fit on the suet block at once.  There is constant circling, switching places, and shifting from one perch to another.  They could teach air traffic controllers how to coordinate traffic.  All is busyness and constant motion for 5 minutes or so.  Then some signal is given and they depart as quickly as they came. 

Most days I don’t see them.  Either I’m not at home or just not looking out the window at exactly the right instant.  I know someone is eating the suet but usually there are no witnesses.  Today, however, the tiny gray birds brighten up an otherwise sullen gray day with their exuberance. 

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