May 31 - Dinner at the Picnic Table

Spencer made our picnic table. My paint job didn't take very well, which really bothered me at first, but I've grown to like it. It has the patina of a beat-up picnic table at a state park, its green paint gouged and flaking. I just need to carve some initials into the wood to complete the effect.

The table is in a screen house. On warm evenings I load a tray with a lantern, salt and pepper, napkins and cutlery and take it to the screen house while dinner is cooking. An egg salad sandwich is heaven when accompanied by a soft breeze and dinner music of rustling leaves, crickets and dogs barking in the distance.

May 30 - Veery

A veery sings deep in the woods. His mysterious, flutely song spirals downward, "veer, veer, veer." Veeries are wood thrushes, a group of birds a bit smaller than a robin with brown backs and white chests. The veery's chest is clear, but other species have brown spots and streaks. There are three main species in North America: the veery, hermit thrush and wood thrush. Each has a beautiful, flute-like song that turns a woodland into an enchanted forest.

The veery's haunting song features chords - more than one note at once. The bird's voice is produced in the syrinx, a vocal organ lower in the windpipe than our larynx (they have one of those, too, but with no vocal chords). The syrinx has special muscles that stretch to vary pitch. Birds with simple songs, like the pigeon, have only one syringeal muscle, while songbirds have up to nine.

May 29 - First Day of Summer

Summer is here! On this first day, we're getting ready for a cook-out tomorrow with friends. Yesterday, we put up the screen house and cleaned the picnic table. I have some pretty solar lights to string up over the picnic table. They'll automatically light up after dark.