I was surprised when I walked out this morning to find the temperature at 53°. It’s been a couple of days since the ” cool front ” moved through, so I really wasn’t expecting it. I don’t even think the forecast called for it to be that low.

Also, not that it shows in the photos, but there are two distinct layers of fog this morning. One hugging the ground and one floating about treetop height.

Both buses have made their passes by the house. Both grandkids are on their way to school. And now, the house is empty of everyone but me… and it is quiet… Peaceful…

My bird feeders or predominantly attracting just two types of birds right now. The main visitor for the last week or so has been the Blue Jays. Secondarily, it’s the Cardinals. I haven’t noticed any chickadees or titmouses. It seems the warblers and the finches have all headed north. Even the wrens have been absent. Though, they are probably here but nesting.

Sitting out the other morning, I was pleased to hear the call of a pileated woodpecker. I really don’t know why that particular call affects me almost like the song of the bluebirds… But they do!

It’s quiet enough that even though the doors and the windows are all closed I can still hear the train passing through town. I can remember my grandparents’ house, which set about as far from the railroad tracks as mine does, but wasn’t blocked from view by the trees. And we would hear the engine whistle as it passed the two crossings in their little town out west of here. Of course, out there in the country, the trains passed by at much greater speed. Adding to that, was the fact that out in the country, in the fifties and the sixties, unless it was a cold day the windows were always open letting fresh air through the house.

It was always kind of funny to me, my grandparents had a couple of window units in their house but they almost never to my knowledge ran them. Part of the reason for that was that the yard around my grandparents house was full of fairly large shade trees. Some of which we grandkids lived in whenever we visited. The other reason was probably just habit. They just weren’t used to air conditioned cooling.

I guess my childhood was different from a lot of kids. My brothers and sister, my cousins, we all climbed trees. No matter where we were you would almost always find us sitting high in a treetop. I can’t recall how many times I’ve fallen out of trees. It was never the fall that bothered me… Always the abrupt stop. Somehow or the other, I managed to get through all of my tree climbing escapades without breaking any bones. Though, I did break a number of limbs… Tree limbs.

Well I have chores calling my name, so I guess I’m better end this reminiscence. Y’all stay safe, stay healthy, and pray…

Enjoy the start of another week.