Current events had my mind swirling as I set out to walk in the nearby woods on this dreary first day of winter: Christmas; an appointment with my piano tuner; this weirdly warm weather; the return of longer days; ticks still active in December; the deer rut’s damage to the trees; and the tragically sad Alzheimer’s story in the Still Alice movie I watched last night. Finally, I pushed it all aside and paid attention to what was going on 30 feet above my head. Robins. Hundreds of robins. It was as if there were at least three in every tree. I couldn’t tell if the flock was following me or if it was so large that it covered the entire area through which I roamed. I laughed a little; I’d been wandering for more than 15 minutes before the ridiculously large commotion finally caught my attention.
