A True Spring Story

I once lived on a street that ended in a cul-de-sac. (This “once” was in the previous century.) My home was in one of the brick colonials common to the area. In the brick colonial directly across the street was a family named Starling. They lived there for, oh, about 10 years before selling the house to a family with the last name Bird. The Birds lived there at least until I moved, near end of that century. I decided to move to get closer to work, but had trouble finding a buyer for the house (it was that kind of market). But just as the house I wanted in a new location became available, a member of the Starling family contacted me by phone and said she wanted to move back on the street and asked I knew of any available houses.

“Do I have the house for you!” I said, and asked her if she wanted to buy mine. Ms. Starling bought my house and that winter I happily moved to the state across the river, much closer to work. My new house was on a street name Byrd. (I am not making this up. Wait ‘til you read the rest!)

In early spring, in my new home, I heard a noise that seemed to be coming from my kitchen. When I got to the kitchen I followed the sound to my stove. The high-pitched racket seemed to be emanating from the fan above my stove—but it wasn’t the fan, which was turned off. I never had a stove fan before—it was one of the kitchen features that attracted me to the house—and I couldn’t guess what the noise could be. I asked a neighbor, who said, “probably small birds. We had them last year in our stove fan and put screening up to keep them out.”

I called a wildlife expert. He took a look and said, “Starlings.” After mating season was over. He cleaned out the fan area , and put up screening. “They’ll be happier outside anyway,” he said. “Sometimes they just make a mistake in where they choose to nest.”

Bird Goddess on my altar

So that is my true Spring story, written today as I listen to the birds of many types singing in my backyard, and remember one in particular who sang just at the right moment as I was recording my audiobook, Goddess Guided Meditations.

And oh, btw, did I mention that the first Goddess statue I ever bought (in the early’80s) was a bird Goddess? I’m posting her pic with this article.

Copyright© 2016 by Judith Laura