SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY

It was first thing in the morning and I was sitting on my sister Liz’s screened porch sipping a cup of tea. I was watching the birds, bees, and butterflies flitting from feeder to shrubs to trees and back to the feeder again.

Liz came out on the porch with her coffee. “How’d you sleep?” she asked.

“Pretty good. How about you?”

“Good.” She sat down in the chair next to me and put her feet up on the ottoman.

“I’ve been watching this for a while.” I pointed to her feeder. “I’ve never seen such a polite group of wildlife before. Is this what they mean when they say southern hospitality?”

Liz looked over to where I was pointing with a confused look on her face. “What do you mean?”

“Your birds aren’t trying to push past each other to get to the birdseed.” I pointed to the bushes out front where two butterflies and several bees harmoniously worked next to each other as they gathered nectar. “It’s like I’m watching a Disney movie.” I pointed to the corner of her house. “I’m waiting for Snow White to walk out singing while holding her finger up so the birds can land on it and start chirping in unison with her singing!”

Liz started to laugh as she took a sip of her coffee. “A Disney movie, huh?”

“I’m serious!” I laughed. “When I’m sitting out on my deck in New Jersey it’s like watching a scene from West Side Story! The mourning doves and house finches are the Jets and the blue jays and squirrels are the Sharks! Everyone is fighting to get to the birdseed first! Seeds are flying everywhere and while the poor mourning doves are trying to gather up anything tossed to the ground the chipmunks are pushing past them to get to it first!”

Liz looked back at her garden. “They do seem to get along don’t they?”

“Get along?” I pointed to her birdbath where two little finches were taking turns taking a dip. “We were having a heat wave last week and I had a squirrel just laying in my birdbath while the birds tried to attack him hoping he’d move out of the way!” I shook my head and sighed. “The squirrel won that one.”

“Well, the poor squirrel was just trying to cool off.” Liz countered.

“Hey, who’s side are you on?”

Liz started to laugh again. “I’m not on anyone’s side!”

I looked around her garden again. “You know, come to think of it I haven’t seen any squirrels around here.”

Liz shook her head. “I don’t get squirrels.”

I looked over at her genuinely surprised. “You don’t have squirrels around here?”

“No, we have squirrels in North Carolina. But I don’t get them in my yard.” She looked around her property. “I think it’s because I don’t have any tall tree around for them to make their nests in.”

“Well, aren’t you lucky.” I sighed. “My back yard is all woods so the squirrels just LOVE my property!”

“Hey, you’re here now so enjoy the Disney scene while you can.”

I sat back listening to the low hum of the ceiling fan above us and watched as two goldfinches landed side by side to get a snack from her feeder. “Southern hospitality at its best!” I said before taking another sip of my tea.