Dateline March 31, 2021

I went out to pull weeds this morning, but I came inside because it was too cold, so I decided to come inside and spend more time in the sunroom, reading. I’m working my way through the essays of E.B. White, an old paperback that I will dispose of when I finish with it. The essays are interesting, but I’ve been making slow progress on them, mainly due to other events.

After reading an essay, I grabbed the book of poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay and read a few pages. I’m making slow progress on it too. I then picked up an old edition of a diabetes magazine, intending to zip through it and then dispose of it. Before reading in it I looked up and saw a downy woodpecker come to our empty bird feeders on the deck. I saw that three or four days ago but didn’t fill them right away. So I laid the magazine aside, took five minutes (maybe less) to fill them, then came back to the sunroom to read.

Now, from my reading chair in the sunroom when positioned in its winter orientation, I look right out a window at the bird feeders. As soon as I sat, I saw a tufted titmouse at the railing, where I scattered some old thistle seed. That didn’t please him, apparently, for he went right up to the feeder with the sunflower chips. But he didn’t take any, instead going to the feeder with the black oil sunflower seeds. There he ate. He took one and flew away. In less than a minute he was back, took another, and left again. This repeated for more than five minutes with no other birds coming.

Obviously, I don’t know that it was the same bird. Five or six tufted titmouses could have come to the feeder. It took almost ten minutes before a chickadee showed up, then a second. I tried to get back to my magazine, but first had to look around the room. In the spirit of decluttering/disaccumulation, the room is less crowded than it used to be. Last September, when we started de/dis, my wife said she wanted to sell three large plants in the room. I balked at this at first, as the plants in the sunroom are my friends, giving me oxygen as I sit and read there. Then I thought, there are about fifteen other plans in the room, I guess we could do without those three. They sold right away when I listed them on FB Marketplace.

Last month I decided to list the four antique chairs that came from my grandmother’s house. They were in rough shape, the sort of thing you keep with the idea of refurbishing it at some point. I thought, will I or the wife ever get around to refurbishing these? Two are cane-bottom chairs with the cane needing work, something you would have to pay for. So I listed them and they sold right away.

The sad thing is, with these things gone, you can’t tell that the room is in any sense empty. Two older easy chairs, a table, a patio furniture set, two old microwave tables, a tall plant stand, a couple of small tables, an old three-tier table, a magazine rack, some folding chairs, and plants sitting on every flat surface made the room seem nicely furnished, almost crowded even. It doesn’t look like a room that is being cleaned out by someone who is thinking of downsizing. I guess that tells you how much work we still have.

I got back to the magazine and went through about 25 pages. Half of those were ads for medicines or medical devices or food companies. But I read four good articles, one that included information I didn’t know before.

My quiet reading time ended all too soon as my lunch time arrived. I got up and went into the house. I didn’t say goodbye to the plants as I left. I shot a glance at the bird feeder and saw a chickadee and a titmouse fly away. The downy woodpecker must not have received the memo about the feeders being restocked. I’m sure I’ll see him again before too many days pass. E.B. White will still speak to me for another five or seven sitting to finish the 71 pages left, and Edna will see me again before long. For now, it’s on to other responsibilities and passions in other venues.