It was a Friday evening and my son Alex and I were walking around our neighborhood when we noticed a lot of families setting up tables in their driveways.

“Must be the town wide yard sale this weekend.” I said as we passed a woman wheeling out a rolling rack of clothes. I began shaking my head. “I’ve only had one yard sale and I hated it!”

“Why?”

“Well, we were downsizing, and your Dad wanted to clean out the garage and shed to get rid of all the extra contracting materials he’d been storing.” We passed a house that was lining up a row of bikes on their front lawn. “I thought it would be a good idea to start cleaning out the house and get rid of the stuff I wasn’t planning on taking when we moved.” We saw a woman with her dog on a leash walking towards us. We stepped into the street until they passed then got back on the sidewalk. “I couldn’t believe how much work it was dragging everything out on our porch, trying to decide what to charge and grouping them in some sort of order! It was exhausting.” I shook my head at the memory. “Then the day of the sale came and the creepy part started.”

“What creepy part?”

“When I came down early the next morning there were some dollar bills laying on the porch!”

Alex stopped walking. “What?”

“Yup! Someone was on our porch and decided to start shopping early!”

“What did they take?” We’d begun walking again.

“I have no idea! There was so much stuff I couldn’t figure out what they took. They really creepy part was I hadn’t put prices on anything yet so whatever they took they decided on what they’d pay for it.”

We were passing another family setting up. I scanned what they were putting out on the tables. Then shook my head. “Nope I’m not even going to look. Once you downsize your treasure hunting days are done.”

“I remember I sold a lot of my old video games.” he said.

“Oh, yeah!” I looked over at him. “Do you remember how much you made on them?”

“No, but I regret selling them.” Alex sighed. “Some of them are classics now.”

“I’m sorry.” I said sadly as I patted him on the shoulder.

“Do you regret selling anything?” he asked. We were at the end of our street, headed home.

I thought about it for a moment. “Maybe a few things, but when your downsizing you have to make some tough choices.”

We were just passing our neighbors house, who were also getting ready for the sale. I could see they had a table with some crystal pieces on it. “Oh, I’ll have to come check that out tomorrow.” I said as I turned into our driveway.

“I thought your treasure hunting days were over?” Alex pulled the house keys out of his pocket.

I shrugged my shoulders as he opened the door and I walked in. “I guess I was lying to myself.”

I knocked on my son Alex’s bedroom door. “Can I come in?” I called.

“Sure!”

I walked into his sitting room and saw that he had a clear plastic bag of rubber snakes on his couch. I picked it up but held it away from me, because even though they’re rubber they’re still snakes. “What are these for?”

Alex came out of his bedroom. “Dad and I ordered them the other night.”

“Why?” I peeked inside and noticed there were several different types of snakes before I dropped them back onto his couch.

“It’s for the mockingbird.” Alex picked up the bag and tossed them further down the couch before he sat down.

“You mean the mockingbird that we were having so much fun listening to the other day?”

We’d been on the back porch while the mockingbird perched himself by the feeder and went through his repertoire. “He did a really good seagull.” I smiled as I thought about it.

“Yeah, and his blue jay was so perfect the real blue jays were chasing him all over the place!”

I had to laugh. “I know, it was pretty funny.” I stopped laughing, looked at the bag of snakes and felt confused. “You were liking the mockingbird when we were on the deck.” I shrugged my shoulders. “What happened?”

“Yeah, it was all fun and games until he decided to park himself in the holly tree outside my bedroom window the other night and do his entire repertoire again at three in the morning!” Alex sighed. “Oh, and this time he really liked his car alarm song!”

I had to laugh. “I’m sorry, but when we looked them up online it did say they’ll imitate any noises in the area.” I actually thought it was pretty interesting that mockingbirds can learn close to two hundred sounds. From other song birds to squeaky gates, car alarms and even babies crying. “So what are the snakes for?”

“To hang in the holly tree and scare him away.” Alex pulled one out of the bag and tossed it to me.

“Don’t do that!” I jumped out of the way and let it drop to the floor. “I’ve got bird feeders and bird houses all over the place and you want to hang snakes in the trees!”

“Just the holly tree by my bedroom window. Dad and I looked it up and it says smaller birds are afraid of snakes.” He picked the snake up off the floor and put it back in the bag.

“But that means you’ll be scaring all the birds away!”

“The holly tree’s in the front of the house.” Alex reasoned. “Your feeders and bird houses are in the back.”

“I still don’t want you hanging snakes in the trees.”

Just then my husband Steven walked by. “Are you talking about the snakes I just bought?”

“Yeah,” I looked over at Steven. “I really don’t want snakes draped over my holly bush limbs.”

“Hey, if it keeps the mockingbird from singing at three in the morning I say we hang snakes in the trees!”

“I’m with Dad!” Alex called.

“Oh, come on you two.” I looked over at Alex. “How many times has he woken you up in the middle of the night?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “Just that one time.” he admitted.

“Are you two serious?” I looked at Steven then back at Alex. “He keeps you up for one night and you’re ready to put snakes in the trees!”

“I never said anything about putting them up yet.” Alex said as he picked up the bag and began walking back into his bedroom while I followed him. “I just want to be prepared if he does it again.” Alex placed the bag next to his bed. “This way I can just open my window and toss a few right in the tree.”

I looked over at Steven and sighed.

“What?” Steven looked over at Alex, who shrugged his shoulders, then looked back at me. “It’s the perfect solution!”

“You two better promise me that I’m never going to find one of them hiding anywhere in the house.”

Alex and Steven just smiled.

After dinner my son Alex and I decided to take a drive down to the beach. There’s a National Park by us called Sandy Hook, a peninsula that has the ocean on one side and the bay on the other.

We parked the car in the lot and made our way across the sand to some large jetty rocks by the ocean. As we climbed up on one of the rocks we could see the ocean, the waves gently tumbling onto the sand. We sat down and watched as fisherman, further down the beach, set up their equipment along the edge of the water. Right in front of us several poles were lined up on the sand, waiting for the next nibble, but no one seemed to be around to tend them.

“I’m so glad you’re Dad isn’t into fishing.” I said to Alex.

“Why?” he was sitting on his own jetty rock.

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I really don’t like the taste of fish and I wouldn’t want him coming home with a cooler filled with them and wanting me to gut and clean them.” I shuddered at the thought. “Yuck.”

Just then a man popped up from the other side of the boulder I was sitting on. He didn’t look our way but went directly to the fishing poles in front of us.

Alex looked over at me, his eyes opened wide. “Do you think he heard you?” he whispered.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m not sure how he couldn’t.” I leaned over the boulder and saw where he’d been sitting on the sand leaned up against the boulder I was sitting on. “Want to go over to the bay side now?” I asked.

Alex got up first then reached over to help me down from my perch. “Thanks.” I hopped down onto the sand. “Well that was embarrassing.” I laughed as we walked back through the parking lot, crossed the road and walked through the section that had been cut through the dunes.

“Whew,” I covered my nose as the low tide smell hit me. “It’s stinky over here.”

I spotted something close to the tide line and walked over to it then crouched down. “It’s a horseshoe crab!” I cried waving Alex over to me.

“Do you think it’s still alive!” He asked as he came to stand next to me.

“I don’t know.” We both stared at the motionless armored creature.

Alex pointed to another one half buried in the sand a few feet away. “It’s like they’re playing the worst game of hide and seek.” he laughed. “You know how little kids put a towel over their heads and think they’re hiding?”

I had to laugh then quickly stopped. “Wait a minute.” I looked around and saw several more partially buried in the sand. “It’s low tide.”

“I know. I can smell it too.” Alex began to step back.

“DON’T MOVE!” I cried.

Alex froze. “What’s wrong?”

“They’ve come up on the beach to lay their eggs and the tide went out before they were done. That’s why they’ve buried themselves in the sand! They’re waiting for the tide to come back in.” I looked around and could see even more crabs. The drag lines from their shells were all over the beach. I slowly stood up. “Watch where you’re walking.” I gingerly stepped over another crab. “We don’t want to step on any of them.”

Alex and I must have looked ridiculous as we hopped and leaped over what other people watching us would think were imaginary objects. When I finally felt we were safely out of their egg laying area I turned back to Alex. “Well, that certainly was exciting!”

“Exciting?” Alex began brushing the sand I’d kicked up off his legs.

I looked back over to the horseshoe crabs. “I haven’t seen that many horseshoe crabs since I was little girl.” I smiled as I looked at Alex. “I’m just so excited to see so many!”

Alex smiled. “I’m glad you’re so excited.” he tipped his head towards the parking lot. “Now do you want to head back to the car before the fisherman you insulted packs up and we find out we’re parked next to him.”

“Oh yeah.” I grimaced as I headed towards our car. “I forgot about him.”

I was sitting on the couch, reading the morning newspaper, when my son Alex came out of his room. I looked at my phone to check the time. “It’s only 6:30, what are you doing up so early?”

Alex used his fist to rub his eye. “I’ve been up since 3:30! Those stupid robin’s made a nest in the holly tree right outside my window again!” he shook his head and sat down next to me. “I looked it up it takes over two weeks before the eggs hatch. Then another few weeks before they leave the nest!” He turned to look at me, I could see how tired he looked. “And why are they up so early?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “You know what they say. ‘The early bird gets the worm’.” I tried to make a joke out of it but he wasn’t having it.

“That’s not early! That’s the middle of the night!” He laid his head back against the cushions. “This is going to be a repeat of last year.” he sighed. “They yelled and screamed all day long.”

“I think most people think of birds as singing, not yelling.” I corrected him.

“They’re not singing.” Alex corrected me. “It’s definitely yelling.”

I patted him on the leg. “You’re not sure they’ve made a nest.” I got up from the couch. “Maybe they were just hanging in the holly tree looking for a good spot somewhere else.” I went to the front door with Alex following me. “Let’s check and see if we see a nest.”

Barefooted we walked around to the side of the house. My husband Steven had just trimmed the holly tree and it looked beautiful. I peeked around the tightly packed limbs. “See,” I pointed to the spot the nest was in last year. “They haven’t rebuilt.”

Alex looked up higher. “Nope, they just moved up.”

I peeked through the holly leaves and sure enough there was a nest. I looked at Alex and shrugged my shoulders. “Sorry.” but then I smiled. “But it’s all a part of Spring, right?”

Alex sighed. “Can’t we move it?”

I shook my head. “You can’t move a nest!”

“Why not?”

“Because they won’t know where it is! It’s not like I can leave a little sign that says: ‘We’ve moved you to the lilac bush up front’!”

Alex looked back up at the nest. Not a very happy expression on his face. “I say we leave a sign that says: ‘You’re evicted’!” he grumbled.

“I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to move an active nest. Besides it’s only for a few weeks.” I smiled as I began walking him back to the front door. “Pretty soon it will be the cute chirps of the babies wanting to be fed.” I quickly put my hand over my mouth trying to stop what I’d just said.

Alex’s shoulders went slack and he tipped his head back. “That’s right! The non-stop crying to be fed.” he groaned again.

I put my hand on his shoulder guiding him back to the house. “You’re just tired right now.” I said as I opened the front door. “How about I make you some eggs? Once you’ve eaten you’ll feel a whole lot better.”

“That sounds good. I could go for some eggs.” he turned around and started to go back down our front steps.

“Where are you going?”

Alex turned and smiled at me. “To get the eggs!” he began to walk toward the holly tree.

“Very funny.” I held open the door open as he walked back in.

My husband Steven held his phone up to me, “Alex and I thought you might like this for Mother’s Day.” I took the phone from him and looked at what he’d saved on his Amazon account. It was a beautiful black rocking chair. “I thought we’d get two of them.” he added.

“Oh my gosh! Yes!” I handed the phone back to him. “They’re perfect!”

My sister Liz had given us wooden rocking chairs for our front porch and I loved them, but weather hadn’t treated them very kindly.

Steven began clicking to finish the order. “These are made to stay outside.” He looked over at me. “Do you want me to get a third one?”

“Why?” We only had two on the front porch. I didn’t think we’d need a third.

“To replace your old one on the back porch.”

“What!” I began shaking my head no. “I love that rocking chair!”

“I know, but the paint’s peeling off of it.”

“So, I’ll paint it again.”

Steven sighed. “You’ve been saying that for the past two years. Why not just get a brand new one?” He turned the phone so I could see the picture again. “These will never have to be painted.”

“But I don’t know how the new ones will rock.”

Now Steven looked confused. “What do you mean you don’t know how it will rock?”

“Rocking chairs can be very different.” I began pointing to my fingers to list the different issues. “Sometimes it’s a short choppy rock,” I started with my pointer finger, then moved on. “Or maybe the rock is too long and you feel like you’re going to fall backwards. Or the front rock is too short and you feel like you’re going to be ejected.”

Steven shook his head. “So what if you don’t like the rock on these?”

“They’re for the front porch. I’ll rarely be sitting on those.” I pointed to the back porch. “But you know I live out there, and that’s the perfect rocking chair.” Now it was time for me to sigh. “Besides I’ve had that rocking chair before we were even married. It’s like it was part of my dowry.”

Now Steven started to laugh. “Your dowry? What else did you bring in your dowry? A couple of goats and maybe a cow?”

Now I started to laugh. “No, but I did come with a few outdoor cats.”

“Oh, yeah.” Steven shook his head. “I forgot about that.”

“Hey, they were good mousers! When you live by the river you need a few good mousers!”

I got up and went into the kitchen to look out window. “I love my rocking chair.” I was looking at my green, paint peeling, special chair. “But I get your point it does look terrible.” I turned around and looked back at Steven. “I promise I’ll repaint it this summer.”

“Whenever you’re ready let me know and I’ll give you my sander.”

“Sander?” I looked back out the window. “The paints all peeled off. What’s to sand?”

Steven just laughed. “Okay, I see that painting project going really well.”

“What?”

Steven finished ordering the new rockers. “They’ll be here by the end of the week.”

“Yeah!” I smiled. “They’ll look beautiful!” I went over to give him a hug. “Thank you! They’re the perfect Mother’s Day present!”

I’d been standing on our back deck for a few minutes before I came back inside. “Well, this sure stinks.” I said as I closed the door and looked at my son Alex, who was standing in front of the open refrigerator.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as he moved things around on the shelf.

“Every night, for the past few weeks, I’ve popped outside to listen to our spring peepers.” I loved the chirping of the tiny little frogs chorus, as they called out for a mate.

“There was one night they got so loud I thought I’d left a window open.” I leaned against the counter. “I spent ten minutes wandering around the house, looking for the window that needed to be closed, only to find out everything was shut tight.”

“Ahum.” Alex stood back and once again scanned inside the refrigerator.

“That’s how loud the peepers were that night!” I said, knowing he really wasn’t paying attention to what I was saying.

“Wow.” he closed the refrigerator and walked over to the cabinet.

“What are you looking for?” I finally asked.

“Something to eat.” he began pulling out the drawers of the pantry.

“We literally just finished dinner five minutes ago!” I cried.

Alex shrugged his shoulders as he closed the pantry door. He went over to the cookie jar, lifted the lid, peeked inside before reaching in and pulling out a granola bar. “This will have to do.” he opened the wrapper and took a bite. “So, spring peepers huh?”

“Not anymore!” I cried.

“What do you mean?” He took another bite.

“That’s what I was trying to tell you. I just went out tonight and I could only hear one tiny peeper calling out!” I sighed. “How sad is that?”

Alex shook his head. “Still not getting you?”

“He’s all alone! No one’s answering him!” I couldn’t believe he wasn’t understanding me. “It’s like he showed up to the party late and everybody already left!”

“Wait,” Alex looked confused. “Weren’t you the one who told me it’s only the male that calls out?”

Now I was a little confused. “Yeah?”

“So maybe there’s a dozen girls headed his way right now?” Alex smiled as he threw his wrapper in the trash. “Maybe that one lone guy out there is really the smartest one of them all.” Alex patted me on the arm as he left the kitchen.

I thought about that for a minute before I reached over the sink and opened the window. I listened to the peeper singing solo from his choir. I couldn’t help but smile. “Maybe you are the smartest one.”

I was sitting in our living room, windows open, enjoying the cool breeze when my son Alex came into the room. “What are you up to today?” I asked.

“Working.” he said as he went into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. “What about you?” he called.

I sighed as I laid back and inhaled. “Right now I’m just enjoying our lilac bush.” I called before taking another deep breath. “I can’t believe I can smell from here.”

Alex came in with his coffee and looked out the window at our lilac bush at the end of our driveway. “It sure is in full bloom.”

I looked over at him. “I don’t mean to brag but if you look up and down our street you’ll noticed that we have the biggest and nicest one in the neighborhood.” I smiled at him as if I had something to do with it.

Alex laughed. “I don’t have to look, I believe you.”

I sat up and pointed to our neighbor. “I mean his is nice, maybe just as big, but it’s got a white flower. Not the beautiful lavender one we have. And it has maybe a third of the blooms ours has!”

Alex shook his head. “I didn’t know it was a competition.”

“Well, it’s not really.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m just lilac proud.”

Alex rubbed his forehead and shook his head. “Did someone just cut their grass?”

I looked out the window. “I don’t think so. Why?” I looked back at him.

“My allergies are bothering me today.” He took the heal of his hand and began rubbing his eye. Just then my husband Steven came into the room and saw Alex rubbing his eye. “You too?” he asked.

“Yeah, someone must have cut their lawn.” he shook his head again.

“It’s the lilac bush.” Steven said as he went over to the window and closed it.

“Hey!” I cried. “I was just enjoying how great it smelled!”

“Sorry about that, but my head is pounding.” he looked over at Alex. “I’ll put the air on.”

“Thanks.” Alex sat down on the couch. “Sorry about that, Mom. But that great smell you’re smelling is just a headache to us.”

I sighed as I leaned back on the couch. “You know when I was growing up my Mom used to have a special vase that she used just for lilac’s. It was a gorgeous dark purple. She’d cut an armload of lilacs, put them in that beautiful vase, and put it in the middle of the dining room table.” I looked over at him. “I used to love the way the whole house smelled like lilacs.”

“Nobody in your family was allergic?”

“Nope, not a one, and there were nine of us.” I shrugged my shoulders again and looked back out the window. “I wonder who got that vase when we split up the house?”

“Yeah, I wonder?” Alex looked concerned. “Maybe you should call Aunt Liz and ask her if she knows where it is?”

I got up to get my phone. “That’s a great idea!” I stopped before I left the room. “You know you’re lucky I’m so easily distracted. Otherwise, I’d still be upset that I’m not laying on my couch enjoying the smell of my lilac’s!”

Alex just nodded his head and smiled. “I have to admit, it does come in handy at times.”

I was standing by my couch trying to get the best possible light, before snapping a picture, when my husband Steven came in. “Why are you taking a picture of our couch?”

“Because everyone takes pictures when they go on vacation.” I said matter-of-fact.

Steven looked confused. “We didn’t go anywhere.”

“You might not have gone anywhere but…” I patted the arm of the couch. “Spring break 2019 was spent on this baby.” I sighed. “And it was wonderful!”

Steven shook his head and laughed. “But why the picture?”

I moved the pillows and draped the blanket in that causal, I-just-got-up look. “Because when I get back to school and everyone’s showing their photos of all the beautiful places they visited I want to have something to show too!” I snapped another picture and checked to see if I liked it. “That’s a keeper.”

“It’s our couch.” Steven just shook his head.

“Hey! This was one of the best Spring breaks I’ve had in a long time!” I smiled as I fluffed the pillows. “I read a few books, binge watched some shows, ate anything I wanted, and then to top it all off I napped!” I looked over at Steven. “When my school friends show me their pictures of Disney or any other theme park vacations I’ll be able to look into their exhausted eyes and show them this!” I turned my phone around and showed him my couch picture. “You know I’ll be the envy of them all when they look into my well rested eyes.”

“What if they went to a relaxing beach resort?” Steven said with a laugh.

“Still have them beat!”

“How?”

“I didn’t have to pack, fly there or get into a bathing suit this early in the season! And I spent most of my days in my pj’s!” I smiled as I sat down on couch and wrapped the blanket around me. “Totally winning!”

Steven laughed as he sat down next to me. “I did appreciate that you showered every day.”

“Hey! I’m not an animal!” I laughed.

“Well, I’m glad you had a nice break.”

“Yeah.” I sighed “The only problem I’m having right now is saying goodbye.” I lovingly moved my hand over the cushion. “It’s been awesome.” I whispered to the cushion.

“You do know you’ll see the couch when you get home from work?” Steven raised his eyebrows. “Right?”

“It won’t be the same.” I leaned back and put my feet up on the coffee table. “Sitting here after a day of work is me fighting to stay awake long enough to make dinner.”

“Well, it won’t be long before you’ll have Summer break and you can go right back to your favorite piece of furniture.” Steven patted the cushion before he got up.

I shook my head. “This isn’t my favorite piece of furniture in the Summer.” I couldn’t believe he knew so little about me.

“Wait!” Steven turned around. “It’s the rocking chair on the back porch! I knew that.”

“Exactly!” I smiled as I leaned back and watched Steven go into the kitchen. Then I patted the cushion next to me again. “But, just remember, you were my favorite this whole past week.” I whispered.

I’d clicked on my Facebook account and the first thing that popped up was a picture I’d taken the year before on a trip my sister and I had taken to the Netherlands. “Oh, my gosh! I can’t believe its already been a year!” I cried to myself.

I went to find the photo album I’d put together so I could enjoy the whole experience again. The album held 300 pictures so I needed both hands as I grabbed it off the shelf. I went back to the couch to settle in and revisit my trip.

Just then my son Alex walked past me.

“Hey!” I called as I patted the cushion next to me. “Want to look at the photos with me?”

Alex looked over his shoulder. I could only assume he was hoping I was talking to someone else. When he realized I was talking to him he shrugged his shoulders. “Um-mm, not really.”

“Oh, come on!” I cried and patted the couch cushion again. “It’ll be fun! I promise!”

My husband Steven came around the corner. “I have to run to a job site.” he said as he headed the front door. He looked at Alex. “You want to take a ride?”

Alex couldn’t help but smile. “Sure!”

“Oh, man!” I looked over at Steven. “He was going to look at my photos with me!”

Steven laughed and looked at Alex. “Looks like I just saved you! You’re welcome.”

“Hey!” I cried.

Alex came over and kissed me on the top of my head. “Love you, but I gotta’ go.”

As soon as they left I began looking through the album but, I really wanted to share it with someone.

I picked up my phone and called my sister Liz.

When she answered I didn’t even give her a chance to say “Hi”. “Do you know it’s a year ago today that we landed in Amsterdam?” I asked.

“Wow, that year sure went by fast.”

“I know! So I have my photo album here and I was wondering if you wanted to look at the pictures with me?”

“You put your photo album together already?” I could hear her sigh. “I haven’t even figured out what photos I want to put in my book.”

“Oh, I don’t do photo albums like you.” I corrected. My sister put together very elaborate books through Shutterfly. “Mine’s in a album that hold 300 pictures.”

“Oh, you just dumped then in one of those albums.” She sounded revealed.

“Hey! I wouldn’t say dump! I very lovingly placed each one in it’s plastic sleeve.”

Liz laughed. “So how am I going to see your pictures?”

“Let’s FaceTime!” I looked on my phone and tapped the FaceTime picture. “Nothing’s happening.” I said. I was confused. “Does yours work?”

Liz seemed confused too. “Mine won’t let me Facetime with you. Do you have it shut off in your settings?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know. I’ve never used it.” I went in my settings. “Got it!” I held the phone over the album. “Remember we went to Anne Franks Annex on the first day?”

“Yup.”

I moved the phone to the next photo. “Remember this is where we ate lunch?”

“I remember.”

I turned the phone around so I could see her. “Are you really looking at the pictures?”

Liz laughed. “Yes!”

“Okay, because you don’t sound as excited as I am to relive this trip!” I turned the phone around so she could see the photos again. “Only 298 more photos to go!” I thought I heard a small sigh but I choose to ignore it. “Remember all the houseboats?”

My son Alex and I were enjoying a beautiful sunny day on our back deck, when I looked up in the sky and saw several hawks gliding above.

“Aren’t they beautiful?” I said as I pointed to them swooping and turning in the breeze. “They look like Cooper Hawks.”

Alex looked up squinting. “There sure are a lot of them this year.”

I thought about that for a moment and realized he was right. “I wonder why?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. Then pointed to our bird feeders. “Setting up a self serve buffet for them might have something to do with it.”

I could hear a Cooper Hawk calling out. “Do you hear that?” I got up from my chair to go to the edge of our porch trying to find him in our trees. “Do you see him?” I asked.

Alex looked up. “Why do you assume it’s a he?”

“Because it’s mating season and it’s the male who usually calls out.” I had my hand up to my forehead trying to block the glare.

“How do you know these things?” I could hear the surprise in his voice.

I looked over at him. “What can I say?” I shrugged my shoulders. “I like nature.” I looked over at the two mourning doves waddling around under our feeders. I waved my arms around. “SHOO!” I cried. “Get out of here! You don’t want to be a hawk’s lunch!” The two doves flew away, the flapping of their wings sounding like tiny squeaky toys. I went and sat back in my chair. “Whew, that was close.”

Alex looked over at me. “You know the hawks need to eat too.”

“I know.” I sighed. “I just don’t want to watch it happen.” I rested my head on the back of my chair. “Remember last year when I went out to fill the feeders and there was a pile of mourning dove feathers on the ground?” I shuttered. “You know they mate for life and his poor spouse spent the rest of her summer sadly wandering around alone.” I sighed again.

Alex shook his head. “Once again, how do you know the hawk got the male and not the female.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I just assumed.”

We sat quietly, watching the birds at the feeders when Alex looked over at me again. “Have you noticed there aren’t many squirrels around lately?”

I scanned our woods. “You know you’re right.” I began looking around some more. “Come to think of it, I haven’t seen any rabbits either.” I got up and went down the deck steps to check around the perimeter of the house.

“What are you doing?” Alex asked.

“Looking for chipmunk burrows.” I looked in all their usual spots. “There’s no fresh holes!” I cried. I looked at Alex as he leaned on the railing watching me. “No rabbits, no squirrels, and now no chipmunks!” I looked up at the hawks swirling overhead. “DAMN YOU COOPER HAWKS!”

Alex started to laugh. “Ten minutes ago you were saying how beautiful they were!”

“Ten minutes ago I hadn’t noticed they were eating all my other little friends!” I came back up on the deck and sat down. “This stinks.”

“Don’t worry. Once the hawks clear out the neighborhood they’ll move on.” Alex patted me on the shoulder. “Then maybe your chipmunk friends will come back.”

“Maybe they’re not getting eaten!” I looked hopefully at Alex. “Maybe they’re just hiding and waiting for the hawks to move on.”

Alex got up to go inside but first stopped to kiss me on the top of the head. “You’re right. That’s how nature works.”

Once Alex had gone in I looked around the woods again hoping I’d see my chipmunks. I sighed when I didn’t see any, and looked up once again at the swirling hawks. “Sometimes I hate nature.” I whispered.