covid-19 – Page 5

Writing in the time of COVID-19: Day Forty Nine

For five years, many of us were entranced daily by albatross chicks on the Cornell AlbatrossCam. From late January until late June, sometimes, even into July, we tuned in at all hours of the day and, thanks to an infrared filter, well into the night to watch chicks hatch, feed, and grow into their long six-foot…

Writing in the time of COVID-19: Day Forty Eight

There’s a male pheasant strutting across the yard as I write this. I’ve never sighted one on our property before. I wonder if there’s a female on a nest nearby? And here I wasn’t going to write about birds today. So, let me start over. This morning when I greeted Kalalea, the mountain across the…

Writing in the time of COVID-19: Day Forty Seven

This was a writing exercise during a Hanalei Writers Retreat led by Pam Houston a few years ago. I dredged it up, because it’s time for dinner, and I haven’t written anything new for today. The Things They Left Behind After Their Hawaii Vacation: A Partial List -A single flip flop, turquoise and sequined with…

Writing in the time of COVID-19: Day Forty Six

I woke this morning smiling, because the first thing I heard was the screech of shama chicks. They’d survived the night. But the screeching has changed. And not just because I suddenly like the sound. Their vocalizations are changing, still as insistent as ever but not so much like twisting steel in a train wreck….

Writing in the time of COVID-19: Day Forty Five

Time is a slippery concept during pandemics. February and March feel like years ago, not months. Turns out, pinpointing fledging dates is tricky, too. The week or more I figured we had until the white-rumped shama chicks fledged turned out to be two days. I saw a little bird out of the corner of my…

Writing in the time of COVID-19: Day Forty Four

The day started gray and quiet. The sun soon chased away the gray, but the quiet remained. In fact, it was too quiet. I walked to the edge of the lanai where I could see the bush with the shama nest. I watched for entering and exiting parents but saw none. I couldn’t hear anything,…