When Daughter Number One and her husband arrived from Wyoming, they came bearing gifts: a couple thousand-piece jigsaw puzzles. D#1 chose the ones she did for their pleasing images—one of North American birds and one of Yellowstone—and because they looked hard. She forgot to factor in that she’d be among those putting the puzzles together. And it turned out she was right about the puzzles being challenging.
Daughters Number Two and Four, and D#2’s daughter, were near enough to come help out. Progress, however, was slow enough that everyone adopted my husband’s protocol: when you put a piece in the puzzle, you tap the puzzle three times with your index finger. That way, all present will know to congratulate you and celebrate your greatness. The cheering and applause were regrettably sporadic. Nevertheless, everyone adopted the protocol except puzzle-wizard D#4. If she stopped to tap the puzzle whenever she added a piece, it would slow her down. Also, the rest of us would feel bad.
Various combinations of family members pitted themselves against that puzzle. And they kept right at it when DN#1 decided she had to order and go collect pizzas, and I decided I needed to help her. We had to come back eventually, despite taking two trips to collect the full complement of what we’d ordered. When we returned home the second time, what a happy sight met our eyes. No, not a completed puzzle. It was every person available sitting at the table and working on the puzzle, heads bent to a common cause. It really was a lovely sight, so many people I love, all in one place.
We didn’t finish the puzzle that evening, but we made a good start. Also, we enjoyed our salads and pizzas around the table on the deck. We had to add extra chairs to squeeze everyone in. It was a pleasure. D#1 and her husband sat outside with us around the same table after church the next morning. We ate bagels and cream cheese and shared newspapers. We had our usual Detroit Free Press and Ann Arbor News, and they contributed an edition of the Cody Enterprise and the summer issue of Pointswest, a magazine published by the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
The Freep and Ann Arbor News were as expected. The Enterprise, founded by William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody himself in 1899, contained the entire schedule for the Park County, Wyoming, Fair. While we discussed our reading matter, a cardinal landed on a branch of the white pine just behind D#1’s husband. He and D#1 live in a part of Wyoming that doesn’t have cardinals, so they were delighted to see this one.
That led to conversation about an app on D#1’s husband’s phone. Audubon offers it for free, as an aid in identifying birds. The app will also play recordings of the songs of ID-ed birds. John played a cardinal recording to illustrate. Our cardinal had moved on by then but, within about a second of John’s playing the recording, the bird was back. It landed much closer this time, in the Norway spruce by our table.
So John played the recording again. The bird bustled even closer—still in the spruce, but within the circle of the table. Where was this bold intruder that dared to sing in our cardinal’s territory? John played the recording again. This time, our bird landed right over the table, ready to defend his turf if the invisible challenger didn’t back off. At this point, we decided to stop. We didn’t want to agitate the real cardinal any further. That Audubon app was remarkable.
“Do a screech owl now, John,” we said. “They’re only out at night,” he answered. “So, do an eagle.” “No, don’t! We don’t want an eagle looking to take out the competition over our table.” Banter continued in this vein, lighthearted and silly, as we vied with one another for comic sections, crossword puzzles, and sudokus. “Did you swipe my pen again, Dad?” “What do you mean, ‘again?’ I would never.” “Oh, yes you would.” “Play the pen song on your app, John. Let’s find out where all the pens are.”
Summer’s a time of long days and lingering evenings, when it’s a pleasure to dine al fresco and, in fact, just easy to go out the door. You don’t have to put on your coat, hat, scarf, mittens, boots, and cleats to step outside. Depending on your destination, you may not even need shoes. Daughter Number One and her husband will be back next week. We may even have the bird puzzle done by then.
4 August 2023
Is it safe to visit again (is the puzzle done)? Intreging imagery with the Cardinal and the app.