Sunday, April 10, 2011

Bluebirds in the House

It's the height of spring in Atlanta.  Every day is flooded with extraordinary beauty about which to write.   From the early Yoshino cherry blossoms falling like snow on every warm breeze, through the daffodils and grape hyacinths, the magniflora camellias, the yellow carolina jasmine and the intoxicating starburst blooms of the evergreen clematis, to the extravagant bursting forth of the pink and white azaleas and flowering dogwoods the city over.  It's an intimidating state of affairs for an amateur nature writer.

That's not even to mention the ubiquitous mating behavior of every species of returning bird.  And the birdsong, my god, the birdsong.  The most joyful of all, for me, is that bluebirds are nesting again in the copper-roofed house.  I've taken up sentinel duty to prevent the tiny rapacious house wrens from chasing them off this year, as they have done the past two years. The wrens have not yet returned, but when they do, I'm ready for them.

The trouble with trying to capture this flood of spectacular beauty in print, aside from keeping me from writing for three weeks, is that it tends to make it sound ordinary.  There is positively nothing ordinary about spring in Atlanta.  The irony is that I'm more driven to write about the slow and the common.  An everyday kind of slow observation has the effect,  for me, of turning the ordinary into the extraordinary---like giving the voiceless a voice.  I'll just have to trust that the spring burst of Atlanta can speak for itself.

In the meantime, here's a shot of madam bluebird, speaking for herself in the azalea thicket.  Click once on the photo to see her and the azaleas more closely.  dkm


42 comments:

bibi said...

I would sing, too, if I lived in such a beautiful enviornment. hmmm. Maybe the lesson here is I should be singing more!

Anonymous said...

Oh Deb, you make it sound so beautiful. The wee bluebird is gorgeous :)

Re: desserts. I definately didn't make those haha. I think the Mille Feuille is french.

Re: stinky dog. She rolls in anything dead from hedgehogs to old chooks. And those things that come from cow and sheep bottoms!

dkm said...

Hedgehogs! Awwww!

dkm said...

And to Bibi: Great lesson for all of us---thank you!

Jane Robertson said...

The white azalea against the green forested background!! Beautiful. This is NOT how I imagined Atlanta at all!! Will have to do some assumption-revising.

I love the idea of turning the ordinary into the extraordinary through gentle, close observation.

I must google bluebirds - find out if they are really blue!!

dkm said...

Yes, the glory of Atlanta is its treefulness :-), though they are disappearing at an alarming rate to developers. We are fortunate enough to have a woods behind our house---between the backyards of our street and the backyards of the very urban street across the way. Also a smallish nature preserve a few blocks away, famous for the birds it attracts. Hence the abundance of interesting birds in our yard.

Female bluebirds are more gray than blue, but the male during mating season "carries the sky on his back," in the words of Henry David Thoreau.

The best way I can think of to adjust your impression is to visit us! Consider yourself always invited.

Jane Robertson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jane Robertson said...

I've just googled bluebirds - they are gorgeous. Now I understand the beautiful Thoreau quote.

I've travelled quite a bit in the US but never to Georgia - and I realise my images of Atlanta are almost all derived from Gone with the Wind! Which means they are most likely images of a film lot and coloured principally by the devastation of the civil war!! (I admit, as a youngster, I used to read Gone with the Wind compulsively!!).

dkm said...

then you simply must visit us!

Pukeko G said...

White Azaleas ? They look brilliant! .. are they scented too? The aroma would be delicious.

Niki has sent your link so will be checking on you again now. Yeah for spring as we head into winter .. had our first frost this morning .. but a lovely clear day is following. :o)>

dkm said...

Hey Pukeko! Wondered what happened to you---but have enjoyed the glimpses from Niki's blog---today's poem---grrrr!

Pukeko G said...

Yes, todays poem ! Always getws my ok but sometimes I have to let her post what she likes irrespective of the outcome. Will keep in touch more from now .. but shariing pc's at work so have left your link in my inbox. Horrible twisters at the mo.. hope you and yours are all fine .. Weekend coming up :o)>

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