The Morning Porch/Patio

Thursday January 23, 2020

Dave Bonta January 23, 2020 0

Sunrise: a glimpse of yellow from beneath the lid of clouds. Goldfinches flutter down to drink from the stream’s thin fissure of open water.

Dave Bonta January 22, 2020 0

Classic January morning: clear sky, very still, very cold. A lone crow’s harangue. The furnace stopping in mid-rumble as the power goes out.

Dave Bonta January 20, 2020 0

Clear and bitter cold (-11°C) but also fabulous—the icy snow covered with glitter where the sun stripes it, blazing through the trees.

Dave Bonta January 19, 2020 0

Watching snowflakes, I start to wonder whether any are making it to the ground at all. Are they just the same flakes circling the house?

Dave Bonta January 18, 2020 0

A lull in the snowfall and the yard is alive with juncos, hopping around each clump of dried grass, gleaning their second breakfast.

Dave Bonta January 17, 2020 0

Clear and cold. As the sun climbs higher, the blue deepens. Yesterday’s thin snow clings to the porch floorboards when I try to sweep.

Dave Bonta January 16, 2020 1

I find my chair where the wind left it at the far end of the porch with a cracked back. Dried cattail leaves flap like banners for the dead.

Dave Bonta January 15, 2020 0

Slow winter dawn: light leaking through the trees. A Carolina wren’s molto vivace prompts his mate to respond in sforzando.

Dave Bonta January 14, 2020 0

Cold and gloomy. A raven alights on a squirrel nest at the top of an oak near the woods’ edge and settles in for a minute before flying on.

Dave Bonta January 13, 2020 0

Quiet except for the distant whine of traffic on I-99 and some small bird chirping behind the oil tanks. The sun comes out for five seconds.