TODAY’S DELIGHT: Moments of Wonder in an Ordinary Life

Yesterday, cleaning out the chicken house, I caught the faint sound of peeping. Maybell, the bantam hen, has been sitting her first brood with typical chicken diligence and ferocity for a few weeks now. Ignoring the sting of her pecks, I reached beneath her and pulled out two eggs. When I held the little jewels up to my ears, I was treated to a stereophonic symphony of chick peeps. What incredibly tender music!

This morning, two tiny fuzzballs, each the size of a walnut, are peering out at me from the shelter of Maybell’s breast feathers. Maybell clucks to them softly, and they peep back. New life. Fresh possibilities. Everyday.

What was your delight today?

 

CROWHEART

The first time I met DaVinci, WildCare’s crow ambassador, I was intimidated. I didn’t know that at the time, but I’ve come to realize that the unsettled feeling in my belly and the self-conscious hunching of my neck and shoulders are my personal markers for that uneasy emotion. WildCare, our local wildlife rehabilitation center, is where I spend my Wednesday mornings, cleaning cages, feeding wild orphan babies, and fraternizing with the best bunch of wildlife fanatics it’s ever been my joy to know.

DaVinci lives in a huge flight cage on the upper level of the center. He was found as a youngster on university campus grounds, which was a fitting place for him to fledge because he is an eccentric professor at heart, brilliant and quirky. Crows are in that rarified community of the smartest of all birds, sometimes being compared intellectually to a five-year-old. I’m here to tell you that he is far brighter, and more calculating, than that. DaVinci remained at WildCare because of a bum foot and wing that never repaired.