Quick snapshot of this moment in my back yard in Catonsville, MD – loud birdsong, siren in the middle distance, circling? At least three distinct types of birds – whistling, chirping and chattering – the snap of someone driving over plastic in the alley, the burr of the neighbour’s phone – the smacking sound of Orion eating grass out of the garden and the scraping, chopping, sizzling of Kristen in the kitchen – cars going too fast and children yelling indeterminate things, the men two yards over complaining about money, the sound of a truck idling, two dogs barking – one low and woof and the other slightly smaller sounding, yapping – two flirty squirrels scuttling and scolding one another – the swift appearance and disappearance of the buzz of a bee, two disparate ice cream trucks playing the same song at different speeds, women talking a couple of yards too my left, the sound of a basketball and the sproing of a trampoline. The distant whisper of Edmondson, the whisper of fans and off in the distance a motorcycle accelerating fast. It sounds like a lot – but it’s pleasant. I have time to sniff whatever Kristen’s frying and then it’s time to go – oh, she dropped something. Past time to go afterall.
