Delta Breeze

[rejectomorph]

This afternoon, I awoke to the scent of damp air. The breeze blowing in from the Sacramento Delta had brought enough moisture to create clouds and bring a refreshing coolness to the day. At the edge of the wooded canyon, I heard a very complex bird song. Several groups of trills of several notes each. I don't think it was a lark. It was more elaborate. I was unable to see the bird itself, but the song was loud enough to be heard over the hum and rustle of the trees during the strong gusts of wind. It seemed an appropriate song for the bright, blustery day of scudding white clouds and fluttering leaves.

I also saw a group of blackbirds, which, at first, I mistook for young crows. There was some fuss going on among them, and they chased each other through the pines with much chattering. They reminded me a bit of the guys who now, with the end of school, are driving around town shirtless, radios blaring, shouting greetings at one another as they speed along the narrow roads. Ah, youthful exuberance!

This evening, the clouds have thickened and the evening light glows through a mother-of-pearl sky. Maybe I will have time for another short walk. Maybe I will be lucky enough to get caught in one of those brief spring showers which dampens the leaves and flowers, and then breaks up in time for the sunset to make the droplets of water glisten and bejewel the fresh green of the forest.