Shock Culture Reverse

The weekend before this one, I went for a walk in the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge first thing in the morning. I was the only one in the refuge, and it was very peaceful. I walked through the forest swamp on a boardwalk path -- which still had some ice on it, so I had to walk carefully.

The 0.4-mile path leads to a bird blind, where I enjoyed watching lots of English, or house, sparrows, three blue jays, and a northern cardinal, among others, jockey for birdseed at a feeder. It was cold but not uncomfortable. When I had seen enough of the bird show, I turned back.

Then came the surprise -- though, looking back, I should not have been surprised. Two white tail deer that I'd spooked with my noisy hiking boots suddenly bounded into view and away. I only know they were white tails because that's about all I caught sight of as they fled. Wonderful.

Postscript: Today, Jay and I were driving back from a shopping trip (a mall, where else?) when we came upon a group of five white tails, including what looked like a younger deer. I stopped the car to allow them to cross the road. Four ran across. A fifth hesitated for a second, then realizing we were staying put, caught up with the rest.

OK, it IS the suburbs. But these suburbs are a little wilder than I'd expected. And I'm very happy about that.