Birthday Sparrow

Bede tells the story of one brief sparrow,
Frightened, confused by smoke and noise,
Who'd blundered out of the night through the eaves
Where the men debated in the meadhall
Some question of massive consequence.
I can't recall, can you, what they spoke of?


from Brief Sparrow, by Barry Spacks


Yesterday I was pleased to hear a song sparrow. Today the yard was inundated with them. All around the house, the field, the edge of the woods and along the driveway - hundreds of them. That, plus the rain, certainly made it feel like spring was at hand.

Fortunately I was able to use a thoughtful birthday present to get a picture of one. Before this I would have had to be within a couple of feet to get a decent image, but with my spiffy new clip-on telephoto lens my phone can take photos of things a bit farther away now. All sorts of new fun lies ahead.

I was also gifted with just the cake I was hoping for - a two layer pineapple upside down cake complete with maraschino cherries. It wasn't delivered on a stretcher by two men wearing funny hats accompanied by a loud siren, but then again I'm not ten anymore so I guess that might not have been appropriate.