7:16 a.m. 9 degrees, wind ENE 2 mph. Sky: altogether flat and uneventful, gray as soiled snow, an absence of sunshine. Permanent streams: the murmur of water under the ice, soothing on a cold morning. Across the flats, bracketed by ice, a lane of water can't wait to reach the marsh. Wetlands: out of a dull green wall, the derisive laughter of a pileated. Hangs in the cold like deep thought. Bird with a one-track mind, again and again, and again. Dogs sit down and chew various body parts. I listen intently for a revelation, a secret that might not otherwise be disclosed if I hadn't paused, fingers numb, cheeks stinging, to consider something other than the changing of the political guard. Purpose achieved, pileated stops laughing. Dogs keep chewing. And I stare into the empty marsh, richer but no more enlightened than before. Pond: inlet frozen shut. Straining to hear the flow.
Far, far away, a raven calls. Draws closer. Passes overhead, towing his voice behind him. A pair of crows. A hairy woodpecker demurely taps a maple limb. A gentle decree. Another picks fat from a bag of kidney suet. Titmice and chickadees, puffed like stuffies, take turns on the feeders. Jays and doves elsewhere engaged in purposeful activity . . . likely to do with food.
Flurries punctuate the dull light of a soft-spoken morning, a quotidian morning in need of engagement. I must deflect the cold and extend the crazy thrill of rejoining the Paris Climate Accord yesterday, forward and forward, again. Less moved by the memory of yesterday, dogs chew on.
Rejoining the Paris Accords was one of my main hopes as we waited for yesterday to happy--and his 17 executive orders are vetted and well-written. I just read this, which shows how very detailed his plans are to restore the goals of Paris:
https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/21/the-biggest-step-the-biden-administration-took-on-climate-yesterday-wasnt-rejoining-the-paris-agreement/
What a relief, to breathe hope again. I've saved his inaugural address--a testament to his hopes and those of us who celebrate a return to civility:
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/20/joe-biden-inauguration-speech-transcript-full-text-460813