Yesterday Sydney and I took a visiting student and his wife out to dinner. As always when new people are visiting (their one chance to experience Ithaca before making big decisions, one day’s memories to hold on to until they move in in the fall), I was acutely aware of the weather. And it was wild. Some lovely spring rains fell in the afternoon, the kind that last for five minutes and often come down through sunshine, but by late afternoon the clouds had gathered and the wind was really picking up.
By the time we got home from the dinner at around 10:30, the trees were moving and loud sighs went through them every few minutes. I didn’t grow up with trees, so I’ve had to become accustomed to having two acres of spruce trees behind the house moan, squeak, squeal, and sigh. To top it off, the migraine I was nursing throughout the night greatly amplified my sensory acuteness, so I heard every sound as if it were right next to me.
Around 5am Sydney and I heard an animal cry, so he got up and, after a few moments, I followed him to the front door. He had turned on the lights in the yard and there, under the lights, we saw a large owl with the rabbit he had caught. We watched him for several minutes before returning to bed. Kind of strange to have an animal with its back to you suddenly turn its whole head around and look straight at you without moving its torso!
After that, I abandoned any thought of getting up at 6 to grade papers. I needed a few hours of normal time to recover my equilibrium!
Erin
Alan Schmierer