I was cleaning up the dishes from dinner when my son Alex came in from the back porch. “A thunderstorm’s rolling in.” he said.

I peeked out the kitchen window and saw that the sky was already getting dark. “I’ll be right out!” I cried as I wiped my hands on a dishtowel and reached into the cabinet for a wine glass. Hurrying to the refrigerator I grabbed my bottle of Pinot Grigio and poured a glass before leaving the bottle on the countertop and racing out the door so I didn’t miss any of the show.

Sitting in the rocking chair I looked around the woods, not a leaf was stirring on the trees as a light rain had begun to fall.

The birds were making last minute visits to the feeders while the squirrels, chipmunks and rabbits were taking their last tour of the grass to see if they’d missed anything good before turning in for the night.

Then a quick flash of light appeared and I began to count, “One Mississippi, two Mississippi…” KA-BOOM!

“Oh, man. It’s close.” I said as the low rumble kept on as I took a sip of my wine and put the glass on the side table next to me before rocking back in my rocker. “I’ve always loved a good thunder storm.”

“A good one?” Alex asked.

“You know. One that really shows it’s stuff.” I looked over at him. “Not a meek rumble in the distance but an up close and impressive BOOM!”

The air was beginning to cool as the wind began to pick up. “Oh, yeah! It’s coming through now.” I leaned back even further taking in a slow deep breath. “Doesn’t it smell good?” I asked as the smell of wet earth began to fill the air.

Alex nodded his head as another even louder clap of thunder rang through the air.

“I think it’s getting closer.” I reached for my glass of wine to take another sip.

By now all the wildlife had left the yard finding safety in the shrubs and trees until the storm passed.

The wind began to pick up, driving a mist of rain under the roof of our deck. I moved my chair closer to the middle trying to keep dry as another flash of light hit. Not even a second passed before the thunder erupted. “We’re in the middle of it now!” I cried as I sat back down in my rocking chair.

Alex pulled his chair further under the porch also trying to keep himself dry.

I reached for my glass again. “There’s something about all the power and energy happening right in front of us but we’re safe and out of harm’s way right here on our deck.”

Another crack of lightening followed immediately by a huge roll of thunder that actually shook the house. I was up and out of my seat in a flash my glass of wine still in my hand. “Okay, that’s enough for me.” I said as I headed for the kitchen door.

Alex was right behind me as we closed the door and I looked out into the back yard. “I swear that hit somewhere in the neighborhood.” I put my glass on the countertop and raised my hand to my chest. I looked over to Alex. “That really got my heart racing.”

Alex looked over at me and had to laugh. “I guess there’s a difference between a really good thunderstorm and one that scares you to death?”

“Hey, lesson learned on that one.” I grabbed my glass of wine and headed to the living room to watch the rest of the show out the front window, where it was safe.

I looked out my kitchen window and noticed something on one of the large oak trees in our back yard. It was about 50 feet up and scurrying around the trunk. “What is that?” I asked my son Alex as he came into the room. He came over next to me and looked out the window.

“Is it a bird?” I squinted as I tried to decide what type of bird moved like that.

“I think it’s a chipmunk.”

“What?” I went out on our back deck to get a closer look. Putting my hand up over my eyes trying to shade them from the sun, I could see that Alex was right. “I’ve never seen a chipmunk up that high in a tree before.” I looked over at Alex who was now standing next to me. “I always thought they were ground dwellers.”

“I think they usually are.”

We both watched as the chipmunk climbed higher and higher.

I winced. “Oh, man. What if he falls?” I looked back at Alex. “Have you ever seen a chipmunk up that high before?”

Alex shook his head no. “I had a feeling this was going to happen.”

Now I was confused. “You had a feeling what was going to happen?”

Alex pointed to the bird feeder container on the deck, that also had a bag of peanuts in it. “You’ve been tossing peanuts out to them for weeks.”

“So?”

Alex pointed to the oak tree. “You’ve been tossing them out by the tree.” He pointed up to the chipmunk. “Your little buddy there is trying to find out where they’re coming from.”

“Oh, man. That’s just great.” I couldn’t help but sigh. “Now if the little guy falls to his death it will be my fault.” I looked back up in the tree and called. “Hey! It’s me! I’m the one giving them to you!”

I went over to the bird food container and scooped a handful of peanuts from the bag. Going over to the edge of the deck I tossed them away from the oak tree and closer to one of our smaller pines. “There you go little guy. The pine trees the one raining peanuts!”

I looked over at Alex. “Do you think that will work?” I asked him.

Alex didn’t look convinced as he patted me on the shoulder. “Sure. He heard every word you said.”

I looked back up in the tree as the chipmunk climbed higher and higher. “Oh, come on!” I once again I pointed down to where I’d thrown the peanuts. “They’re down here!”

Alex tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the spot where the peanuts were.

“Oh come on!” I cried again as I watched two squirrels, a cardinal and a blue jay eating all the peanuts. “I wasn’t feeding those to any of you!” I pointed back up at the chipmunk. “They’re for him!”

Alex was looking over at all the other wildlife eating away. “I can’t be positive, but I’m pretty sure they don’t understand a word you’re saying.”

My son Alex and I were sitting on our back deck when I leaned over to one of my pots of daylilies to move a vine of creeping jenny that had wrapped itself around one of the bright orange petals. “Aren’t they beautiful?” I asked.

Alex looked over and nodded. “They really have popped!”

“I’m glad I moved the pots up onto the deck this year.” I leaned back in my Adirondack chair and adjusted the small pillow behind my back. “Last year I left them down on the patio and the deer ate all the blooms from one of the pots.”

“Well, they look great this year.” Alex looked around the yard. “Hey, have you seen any chipmunks today?”

I looked around under the bird feeder where they usually liked to hang out. “Not yet.” I looked back at the daylilies “I can’t believe how strange everything feels this year.”

Alex laughed. “Really?”

I had to laugh, too. “I mean even something as simple as my lilies blooming.” I looked over at Alex. “When I was growing up we had a big patch of tiger lilies at the end of our driveway. When they bloomed it meant summer was almost here and school was about to get out.” I got up and went to the covered metal bucket we kept on the deck where I stored my bird seed. I lifted the lid and took out a zip-lock bag of shelled peanuts I also kept in there for the chipmunks. Opening it I grabbed a handful of nuts and went to the edge of the deck and tossed them out by the feeder. “We should see some chipmunks soon.”

Brushing off my hands I went back to my seat and and reached out to touch the lilies again. “That’s the reason I planted these pots. They reminded me of a really special time of year for me. This is the month I’d be busy getting ready for work in the morning and I’d look out the kitchen window and see the lilies popping and know summer was on it’s way and my school year was winding down.” I felt the silkiness of the petal. “Now it just feels weird.” I looked over at Alex.

“Well, summer is here and school is about to get out.” he reminded me.

“I know.” I sighed. “But I’m missing the excitement the end of a school year usually brings. The excitement from the kids. The excitement of the staff. It’s just so different this year. There’s no excitement. Everyone is just done.”

“Well I’m excited.” Alex said.

“About what?”

“Not having to tip-toe around the house while you’re in the middle of a Zoom meeting.”

I had to laugh. “That’s true. Nothing’s more professional than being in the middle of a parent meeting and hearing one of you guys call out, “What’s for dinner?”

Alex laughed. “Hey, that’s become a very important question these last few months. So’s what’s for breakfast and what’s for lunch?”

I just shook my head and laughed again. “Don’t I know it! I rattle one pot in the kitchen and all of you come running to see what’s happening!”

“See? It’s all about looking on the bright side.” He pointed over to the lilies. “Now that you’re home it’s just not mornings and late afternoons that you get to enjoy them. But the entire day!”

I nodded my head. “I have to say I do admire the way you think.” I looked over by the bird feeders. “Oh, look!” I whispered as I pointed to the spot where a chipmunk was sitting up on his hind legs stuffing a peanut in his mouth. “He found them!”

The tree service was going to be coming soon, so my husband Steven and I were standing in the back yard trying to decide which trees needed to be trimmed and which ones needed to be removed.

“There’s some dead branches in that one.” I said as I pointed up into the huge oak tree.

“Yup.” Steven marked it down on his pad.

He pointed his pencil to a tall but straggly pine. “If that falls over in a wind storm it could hit the house.”

I nodded in agreement.

Steven pointed to another tree on the side of our property. “What about that one?”

I looked surprised. “You mean the hummingbird tree?”

Steven looked over at me, the look on his face not showing much humor. “You know it’s dead, right?”

“Yes, but…” I looked over at the leafless tree and could still remember the first fall when I saw the scarlet maple, it had the most brilliant red leafs I’d ever seen. “The hummingbirds still use it. So do the red capped woodpeckers. They love it!”

Steven shook his head. “That’s because they love getting the bugs that live in dead trees.”

“See! It’s still needed!”

Just then our son Alex came out the back door. “What are you guys doing?”

“Your Mom wants to keep the dead tree.” Steven called.

“The hummingbird tree?”

“See!” I looked over at Alex. “Remember this morning when we were out on the deck and the crows…”

Alex interrupted me. “Oh man! I’ve never seen anything like it.” He looked over at Steven. “We were sitting out here and two crows came in and landed on the tree and began snapping twigs off it.”

“You could actually hear the twigs snapping!” I added.

“Then they flew off together with the twigs in their beaks.”

“They were pretty big twigs.” I looked over at Steven. “It was wild.”

“Okay, but we’re still taking about a dead tree in our yard.” Steven reminded us.

I knew he was right but I still felt some affection for the poor thing. “I guess.” I sighed.

Just as I looked over at the tree two mourning doves landed on a top branch and began cooing and moving their heads together. “Oh my gosh, would you look at that!” I pointed to the doves. “I’ve never seen the courtship dance before.”

We all stopped and watched as they continued their dance.

“There’s still so much life being lived on it.” I looked over at Steven.

“I promise I’ll get you a new tree.” he said. “One that will have leafs on it.”

“Oh, can it be another scarlet maple?” I asked.

“Sure.” he tapped his pencil against his pad. “So I can add it?”

I took one more look at my hummingbird tree. “I’ll miss you my friend.”

I looked back at Steven and nodded yes.

“Good decision.” he began to write on his pad.

I smiled as I rubbed my hands together. “I have to admit I’m already looking forward to seeing the new tree in the fall.”

Alex looked over at Steven. “Looks like she got over that one pretty quickly.”

I was in my bedroom, putting away the laundry when I noticed a small travel size container of hand sanitizer sitting on top of my jewelry box. I picked it up and went into the hallway. My son Alex was coming out of his room and I held up the container. “Do you know where this came from?”

“I got one, too.” He pointed over his shoulder into his room. “It must have been Dad.” Alex walked into the kitchen with me following him.

“What a sweet gift.” I said as I put it on the counter and went to get a glass from the cabinet. “Every time I’m at the grocery store I look for some but they’re always out.”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “Everyone’s obsessing about keeping their hands clean.” He opened the refrigerator looking for something to snack on. He looked back at me. “I’ve got to admit I’m kind of liking it.” He closed the refrigerator and went over to the cabinet. “Who knew when all this pandemic stuff started that they would actually need to show videos of how to wash your hands.”

I shuddered. “It was a little unnerving. Are there really that many people who don’t know how to wash their hands?” I went over to the refrigerator to fill my glass with water.

Alex found a box of crackers and put them on the counter. “Do we have any cheese?”

“I’m pretty sure there’s a block of cheddar in the hydrator.” I leaned against the counter and took a sip of water while Alex went over to the sink to wash his hands. “So, what song to you sing while you wash your hands?’

Alex laughed. “Never had to do that. I’ve always seemed to know when they were clean.”

Just then Steven came into the room. “What’s everybody up to?”

I went over to the counter and picked up the hand sanitizer. “What a great gift!” I said as I went over to him to give him a quick hug. “Who knew that hand sanitizer was going to be right up there with flowers or chocolates on my gift list!”

Steven laughed. “I saw them at the check out at Staples and thought you’d get a kick out of it.”

I looked down at my red dry hands. “Between washing my hands and using hand sanitizer my hands are a dried out mess.” I felt an itch on the side of my face. “Oh, man!” I went over to the sink and loaded my hands with soap before turning on the water and quickly rinsing them off. Grabbed a paper towel and patted them dry before finally being able to scratch my face. “This not touching your face is getting old, too.”

Steven held up the hand sanitizer he’d just given me. “It might have been quicker if you’d used this.”

I walked into the living where my husband Steven was sitting on the couch reading the newspaper.

“Morning!” I said as I walked by him. “How’d you sleep?”

Steven looked up and seemed surprised. “Where are you going?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No where. Why do you ask?”

Steven pointed to my head. “You’re not wearing your glasses and you have jewelry on.”

I unconsciously touched the side of my head where I would have been adjusting my glasses. “It’s been so long since I put my contacts in and I really do see better with them on.”

“So why haven’t you been wearing them?”

“With the constant chant of don’t touch your face it seemed weird to stick my finger in my eye to put them in.” I went to the kitchen to put some water in the kettle. “You want anything while I’m in here?” I called.

“I’ve already had my coffee. Thanks.”

I came back with my steaming cup of tea and sat next to him. I flipped my hoop earring. “Do you know the dish I use at night to put the jewelry I’d been wearing that day?”

Steven nodded. “It’s on top of your jewelry box.”

I shook my head. “So you’ll never guess what I found in there when I decided to finally put jewelry on again.”

Steven didn’t say anything but waited for me to continue.

“My four leaf clover necklace!” I snorted a little laugh. “Can you believe it! The last time I wore any jewelry was right before St. Patrick’s Day!”

Steven put the newspaper on the coffee table and looked over at me. “Well, you look very nice.” Then held his hand up. “Not that you didn’t look nice in your glasses with no jewelry or make-up.”

I had to laugh. “So you noticed the make-up too?”

“Well….” Steven looked like he might be in trouble.

I looked down at the tee shirt I was wearing. “I was going to actually put on work clothes instead of this but when I went into the closet I realized I still had all my winter work clothes in there.” I pointed in the direction of the basement. “After I have my tea I’m going downstairs to get my spring and summer clothes out of the storage closet.”

“That sounds like a nice project for today.”

“Yeah, one that should have happened six weeks ago.”

“Well, better late than never.” He said as he leaned back against the cushions and stretched his hands behind his head. “Maybe I’ll change my closet around now, too.” He put his feet up on the coffee table. “Oh, yeah. Now that I think about it I changed my closet over six weeks ago because my job was deemed essential so I actually have to get dressed for work.”

“My job’s essential!” I cried as I tossed a pillow in his direction. I couldn’t help by sigh. “They just told me I had to stay home and do it.”

I live in the state of New Jersey so, when our Governor got on the television the other day and said we could finally go to the beach I was estatic.

“The beaches are open! The beaches are open!” I cried out as I ran to my son Alex’s room and began knocking on his door. “The beaches are going to be opened for Memorial Day!” I called through his door.

Alex opened his door and laughed. “I can see you’re pretty excited about that.”

“I know!” I was grinning from ear to ear. “First the parks open and now the beaches.” I began walking towards the kitchen and Alex followed. I grabbed a glass out of the cabinet and looked out the kitchen window. “It’s beautiful out.” I began filled my glass with water. “Do you want to go sit on the back porch?”

Alex grabbed a glass and filled it with water too. “Sure.”

We were sitting on the porch watching the birds at the feeders when I couldn’t help but take in a slow deep breath. “I can’t wait until everything gets back to normal.”

Alex laughed. “You mean the ‘new’ normal?”

I shook my head. “I refuse to use that phase. I’m not going to be gluing pool noodles on a hat and wearing it so I can be a safe distance from someone else.” I was still shaking my head. “Nope. Not going to happen.”

Alex leaned back in his chair and looked over at me. “So why won’t you go to the parks? You were just as excited when they opened up.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Because I live here.” I pointed to our wooded yard as a black capped chickadee flew from our feeder right into the bird house that was across the yard. “I’ve got plenty of nature to enjoy. But for people living in tiny apartments, who don’t have a yard, I thought it was great that they could go and enjoy nature too.” I looked over at him. “That’s why I was so excited that they opened the parks.”

Alex nodded. “So, are you going to the beach this weekend?”

“Not in a million years!” I shook my head. “That would be way to stressful for me. I’m still getting used to going to the grocery store.”

Alex laughed. “Then why do you care if they open the beaches or not?”

“Because the people who aren’t afriad should have some choices too.”

Alex laughed. “So what do you hope they open next that you won’t be going to?”

“Restaurants!” I cried.

I was walking into the kitchen when the light through the back door showed some dust bunnies tumbling past the refrigerator. “Oh, come on!” I cried as I went to the front hall closet to get the broom and dust pan. I began sweeping the dust bunnies into a pile when I noticed more dirt by the garbage pail. “I just swept this floor twenty minutes ago!” I called out to no one in particular.

My son Alex came into the kitchen. “Were you calling me?” he asked.

“I was if you’re the one that keeps missing the garbage pail when you’re throwing something out.”

“Nope not me.” he said as he pulled the garbage drawer open for me to dump the contents of the

dust pan.

“You know I had such big plans when we first got stuck in the house.” I went to put the broom away. “I wanted to organize my office, clean out my closets, maybe even paint a room.”

“Paint a room?” Alex looked doubtful.

“Okay, maybe not paint a room.” I was ready to close the closet door when I peeked under the dining room table and saw some more crumbs. “Oh, for the love of …! This is never ending!” I grabbed the broom again, went over to the dining room table and began pulling the chairs out of the way. “But instead all I do is maintenance. I’m either cleaning the kitchen, cooking, doing laundry or SWEEPING!”

“Stop driving yourself crazy.” Alex pushed the chairs back in. “Dad and I don’t even see the dirt.”

“I know.” I shook my head as I went back to put the broom away again. “I don’t know how you can’t see it.”

Alex shrugged her shoulders. “It’s a gift.”

I went back into the kitchen to make a cup of tea and looked out the window. “At least it’s a beautiful day out.”

“See, now you’re looking on the bright side.”

“Maybe I’ll sit on the back porch and drink my tea.”

“That’s a great idea.” He was reaching in the drawer to get a pan out. “I was going to make eggs. Do you want any?”

I got my kettle and went to the sink to fill it. “I’m good, I think I just want tea this morning.” I had to move the stack of dishes that were in the sink to get the faucet. I turned around and pointed to the dishes. “I’m assuming you didn’t see this either?”

Alex put the pan on the stove and looked over to the sink. “Nope. First time I’m seeing it.”

“Boy, that certainly is an amazing gift you’ve got. Being blind to chores.” I went to get a cup and tea bag.

“You should try it. Maybe you wouldn’t be so stressed.” He cracked the egg against the pan.

I stopped and just stared at him.

Then he said, “Or, I could load the dishwasher after I’m done making my eggs.”

I reached over to the drawer and pulled out a spatula and handed it to him. “Good answer.”

Our doorbell rang and I could see the delivery person leaving a box on our steps. I waited a few pandemic seconds before I opened the door and called “Thank you!” and dragged the box into the house. Reaching for the can of Lysol that now had a permanent home on the floor next to the front door, I sprayed the box down.

My son Alex came into the living room as I was headed to the kitchen. “What got delivered?” he asked as he followed me into the kitchen.

“Don’t know, I haven’t opened it yet.” I began washing my hands in the kitchen sink. “The decontamination process isn’t finished.”

Drying my hands on a paper towel I grabbed the scissors from the drawer and went back to the box. Slicing it open I saw the ten pound bag of bird seed inside. “Yeah!” I pulled the bag out of the box.

“I don’t know if it’s because we’re hanging around the house more or because I changed brands of bird seed, but have you noticed all the different birds we’ve been seeing the past few weeks?”

“Remember the three Baltimore orioles that were on the hummingbird feeder the other day?” Alex asked as he followed me out the back door while I was carrying the bag of birdseed to our feeders.

“Oh, my gosh! Weren’t they beautiful!” I took the feeders down to fill them. “I have to say I’ve never seen one before. I had no idea that they’d like the sugar water for the hummingbirds.” I looked over at the hummingbird feeders. “Remind me that I need to make a fresh batch for them.” I’d finished filling the feeders and went back to the porch to sit in my rocking chair. Alex moved the pillows from the glider and sat down himself.

“So let’s see.” I said as put the bag of seeds down and began counting on my fingers. “In the past week the hummingbirds came back, we’ve seen an American goldfinch, we saw the three Baltimore orioles and we saw our first cowbird.”

“Oh yeah, the cowbird.” Alex pulled a stool over to put his feet on. “Isn’t that the one that lays it’s eggs in other bird’s nest so the other birds have to raise them?”

“Yup, pretty devious little guys aren’t they?” I leaned back in my rocker and looked at the bird feeder. “Let’s see who comes to visit us today.”

It wasn’t long before a beautiful bird I’d never seen before landed to get some seeds. “What the heck is that?” I asked pointing to the feeder.

Alex looked over. “I have no idea.”

I grabbed my phone, went to Google and typed in: Black head, red neck bird. Up popped a picture of what was at our feeder. “It’s called a rose-breasted grosbeak.” I held the phone out for Alex to see.

“Wow, I’ve never seem one before.”

“Nope. Me either.” I scrolled though the feed. “I wonder what they sound like?” I pressed the section that said sound. It immediately played a beautiful call. “Oh my gosh, that’s so pretty!” I looked over at the grosbeak at our feeder. He’d stopped eating and was looked over at us. “Oh geez, I think I just confused him.” I clicked off the sound.

In the distance we heard another rose-breasted grosbeak calling back. I looked over at Alex. “Did you hear that?”

Alex shook his head yes and pointed to a tree on the other side of our yard. Sitting up on one of the highest branches was another rose-breasted grosbeak calling again to the one at the feeder.

I looked at Alex and mouthed “Wow!” I looked back at the bird sitting in the tree as it once again sang out its beautiful call.

I had to smile as I looked back at Alex. “I think we just played matchmaker!”

I’d just finished cleaning up after breakfast and was sitting on the couch staring out the front window. “I can’t believe we just did another week of sitting inside waiting for this pandemic to end.” I sighed as my son Alex came over to the couch to sit down.

“It flew by didn’t it?” he grabbed a pillow and tossed it over to the other side of the couch before sitting down.

“Are you kidding me?” I shook my head in disbelief. “Isn’t it like week seven?” I turned around to look at him. “And it’s raining AGAIN!”

“But look how green everything is getting.” He looked out the window and pointed to my lilac bush. “All the rain is making everything bloom!”

I turned around to look out the window again. “Maybe, but it would be so much better if we could get outside.”

“We will. Don’t worry. It’s not going to be like this forever.” Alex pointed to the end of our driveway. “Look, the robins are playing in the puddles!”

I looked over and watched as the birds rolled around in the water. “Well, at least they’re enjoying the rain.”

“Come on.” Alex said as he sat back and put his feet up on the coffee table. “It’s not so bad.”

“It feels endless.” I said. “I feel like I never stop cooking!”

“I know!” he cried. “How lucky are we that we all love your cooking!”

I had to laugh as I looked over at him to see his big smile. But that didn’t stop me from continuing my complaining. “When I’m not cooking I’m cleaning the kitchen.”

“We’ve been helping you with that.” he reminded me.

“I know.” I leaned back against the cushions. “I guess I’m just having a bad day.”

Alex looked at the clock. “It’s only 10 in the morning! You’ve got time to turn your day around .” he said.

I looked out at the rain again. “Maybe after I shower I could read a book or meditate.”

“See! There you go. Do something for yourself.”

I looked at the clock. “I have a few hours before everyone’s asking for lunch.” I got up from the couch.

“Don’t worry about that.” Alex said. “I’ll make lunch.”

I stopped in my tracks. “Really? That would be great.” I was already feeling better.

“Sure, I can throw a pizza in the oven.” He got up and started walking to the kitchen. “What time do you want to eat?”

I looked over at the clock again. “I guess around noon would be good.” I looked down at my slippers and bathrobe. “Maybe after I shower I’ll put on real clothes instead of changing into clean pj’s.”

“See? You’re feeling better already.” he called from the kitchen. I could hear him getting the pizza pan out of the drawer.

I followed him into the kitchen. “How do you stay so positive and upbeat?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders putting the pan on the counter. “Someone has to help keep your spirits up.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “By the way, we’re having meatloaf tonight.”

“Yes!” I could see his fist pump as I walked to my bedroom.