More blue jays this year than in the past

I’ve mentioned more than once, I believe, how much I enjoy roller coaster rides, and how I travel to Six Flags Great America in Illinois because my sister-in-law lives near that park and we enjoy riding together.

These past few weeks, however, have let me know there are plenty of “roller coasters” much closer to home. I’ve been commenting for the past few weeks about the hills and valleys of our temperatures, and how quickly we seem to go from extremely cold to unseasonably warm. For a few sharp curves on our ride, we have weather systems which begin with freezing rain and shift over to blowing snow.

Something of a roller coaster for me is helping care for my mother-in-law who, at age 91, has dementia and is living in a local care facility. Naturally I am glad to be of service to her and understand she is no longer the person I have had a great relationship with for about 45 years. My heart goes out to her–what must it be like to think it’s breakfast time and then be told she actually just had supper?

The roller coaster comes in because I never know as I walk in for a visit which version of my mother-in-law I will be seeing. There are days when she is introspective and gentle–almost the same person I have known so long–and others when she scowls at the sight of me. I don’t take it personally, but it certainly has a tendency to shorten the length of my visit.

One of the biggest “hills” of this particular ride are the people who work at the care facility. I have always believed one must be a compassionate, patient, dedicated individual to work at a nursing home–but my understanding of how compassionate and dedicated has definitely been enriched.

Another set of ups and downs goes on in my own yard, at my bird feeders. It is rather astounding how much the birds can consume when the temperature is particularly cold.

A red-tailed hawk has recently figured out there is “feed” for him, too.  We know he must be around when the usual crowd of birds is nowhere to be seen. The hawk is a majestic-looking bird, and I acknowledge he also needs to eat, but when he’s around, I miss the energy and drama of the smaller birds, which is essentially constant when the hawk’s not there.

I have more blue jays this year than in the past. This year they’ve shown me how much they must like corn. A bird will go through all sorts of acrobatics to line itself up where it can pluck off a kernel. That one will no sooner fly away than the next one will come and do the same little hopping dance from one branch to another to get in position.

Cardinals are always a delight thanks to their bright red color. As thousands of calendar and greeting card photographers have demonstrated, they are particularly striking with a background of snow. Unlike the jays, who push and squawk at each other and also bully the smaller birds, the cardinals seem polite.

The nuthatches are a source of wonder. Somehow they walk directly up or down a tree as if taking a stroll. It makes a person think of certain silly cartoons–I’m happy it works for the birds, but I can’t help speculating about all the ways it would go wrong for any of the rest of us.

Oh, and one final, celestial roller coaster.

The sun is definitely ascending toward its summer “hill.”

It’s begun to be that, on sunny days, my parked car is being kept warm by the solar radiation coming in through the glass.  Even on a couple of our coldest days, I have gotten into my car expecting to take a seat in a freezer only to meet with the pleasant surprise that it is comfortably warm.

It’s a reminder of the annual roller coaster of seasons that right now I am seeking out parking spaces in the sun, when in a few months the spots in the shade will be the desired prize. I remember noticing with wonder, on one of our barely-above-zero days, that the sun has enough power right now to melt the snow on the highway even though the temperature is well below freezing.

It’s a pleasant indicator we are, indeed, riding on a celestial roller coaster.

Thinking about it all, anyone who ever finds life boring is quite simply not paying attention.