After we get the kids to bed, Scott and I sit out on the deck and quietly watch the reverse sunset. The shadows move so peacefully and slowly across the mountains that all of a sudden the shadows will just be gone without us realizing any time has past. There was a double rainbow this evening. Beautiful. And then come the hummingbirds.
They seem to have a little pattern of their own. The male appears mostly in the morning, zooming in, feeding, and zooming away again. This goes on for quite some time. Hunter has these red pj's he wears and he can actually get pretty close!
In the evening, the female comes doing the same; zooming in and out as she feeds, only stopping for a brief moment and zooming away again. Scott and I pull up our deck chairs and see how close we can get. That is how we entertain ourselves at night!
Those of you who do not know, Scott gets freaked out by things zooming around his head. I get that. Bats are always the first thing I think of and I can understand how that can freak you out, but a hummingbird, for Scott, falls into the same category. So, we have some good laughs while the hummingbirds dive bomb us on the deck, Scott ruffling up his hair as though it gets caught in it. The hummingbirds message is clear, something like, “Why do you have to sit so close? Back off a bit. Geez!”
Last night Scott thought that if he extended his hand out and set his finger right by the perch, the female would land on his finger. Sure enough. No sooner had he put his hand out, she came and landed right on it and was just feeding away!! Nature photographer Sam Noll snapping pictures in hopes of a great one!
That is how we entertain ourselves! To think of a hummingbird landing on you!! Scott was so patient and I remember thinking that as he just quietly sat. I felt sad thinking about how much I will miss those kind of quiet times with him, just the two of us, together, in the quiet of the early evening.
I suppose it is getting to be that time to start packing up, organizing and thinking about driving home. There will be so many things we will all miss. I will even miss the little symphony of snoring. Scott and Hunter and I all sleep in the same room. Hunter is on a twin mattress on the floor and BOY can that kid snore! So, between those two and the nightly gnawing of whatever creature lives in the ceiling, I have gotten to having to fall asleep with the pillow over my head to block it all out!! I am not sure if that is a mouse gnawing or what. It sounds bigger to me but I think most sounds in the dark will sound that way, bigger than they really are. But, its a busy one.
That seems silly to miss someone's snoring, but, to me, what that means is that we all somewhat separate ourselves again, into our own rooms, our own space. Maybe that means we should downsize, buy a 2 bedroom house!! Out here, we are not on top of one another, we are together and it is that togetherness I miss when we get home as everyone spreads out. Of course, then comes the spreading of wings and that is joyful yet bitter sweet at the same time. To think of Ben in preschool – I sort of feel like I will find myself already waving good-bye before I know it, they will have all grown up, have spread their wings and discovered their own way out there.
And we will be OLD, happy & content, most likely here....I still be waiting for a damn hummingbird to land on me.
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