It is the windiest out here exposed on the west end. Having coffee and watching kite surfers in the sound. My science brain trying hard to puzzle out the physics of how the kite can drag you up and down the sound as it plows straight in off the water at right angles. Science brain is failing. Yes, it could use the googles, but the rest of me is content to let it remain a mystery as they let the kite draw them twenty or thirty feet into the air. It must feel like flying. How long have we humans been dreaming of that?
Yesterday I did my sweep for letterboxes. I found three. One I could not find discreetly. One I got caught up in some impromptu birding. The latter I will try again.
I went to Ft. Gaines. This place creeps me out. Last time I went I was the only visitor and the whispers and voices were do damn loud. This time there were many families with children that blotted out what the stones knew. Or maybe the ribald wind drew them all off shore. History is good to experience en place, but military establishments are plagued with voices. Each with its poignant story to tell. To linger there is to bog down in sadness.
There is an Audubon Sanctuary on island. This, by contrast, is one of my favorite places. A short trip into the woods and I was mosquito buffet. Luckily I have some Skeeter Skeedaddle in the car (recommended to us in Maine). It smells great and works. Every visit I get to meet some new avian passerbys. Yesterday there were the usual things one expects in the low country - egrets and herons - but there were also bald eagles, osprey, kestrels, woodpeckers. I know this because there are a number of birders on the island right now.
It was nice to have some people to chat with. I miss that when I travel alone. They were incredibly friendly and knowledgeable about the birds. I enjoyed listening to them point and identify the five great blue herons roosted in the tree in front of me. I probably would have missed those without that. They asked me questions and I felt included. But when I tried to ask about what kind of bird I saw winging by, they closed ranks in drill team precision and cut me out. Because I am socially obtuse, I asked again, they talked louder among themselves. I got the point. I returned to silently watching my surroundings while the hens clucked and chattered around me on the observation deck.
Things took a decided turn south (pun intended) when one of them spoke disparagingly about evolution. I forget that people still think of this as Darwin's joke. Many clucks and nods of agreement. Uh-oh. I could feel the arguments forming in my gut. I clamped down on them tightly. I am a stranger in a strange land called Alabama. Oh wait no. That's part of my country. Still arguing would fall on deaf ears and would spoil my day. So, I sat quietly breathing in ocean air and shutting out their words.
Conversation came back around to the common ground of birds and I let their voices in once more. I love learning new stuff about nature. I sat quietly and listened like I was in school. Someone pointed out a sundog and that's when they really annoyed me. Suddenly school became church and it was "praise Jesus this" and "god almighty that." I shut them out again until one of the ladies turned to me and pointedly asked, "Don't you agree? How can you look at all this and not believe in god and the saving grace of his son?"
To which I replied, "I believe in the First Amendment," and just for fun I tossed in "Ah salaam alaikum," and excused myself. One older woman, who was not part of the group, chuckled.
I could hear the rest behind me gasping, chattering, trying to put their hen brains together and come up with any smattering of history that might help them decipher what I had said.
No comments:
Post a Comment