I’m sitting in my bedroom. The first one I’ve had above ground level in many, many years (since 2003, I guess) and I’m just listening. It’s unfortunate that the ceiling fan makes so much noise… but wait, I can fix that can’t I?
Check that out. The buzz-rattle of that device is gone. I can hear a neighbour cough, and the distant sigh of their air conditioners, but mostly I can hear one of the best sounds there is. Many thanks to Terry Pratchett for introducing the word “susurrus” into my Life so that I have the perfect description of the coming autumn.
The wind rises and the first leaves are just beginning to abandon their posts – and the susurrus of wind through the trees, the soft rattle of them coming down to the ground, and the skritchy skirl of them as they’re kicked down the alley behind the house.
A windchime. I need a windchime out my back window. Just on the edge of hearing I can hear a distant clangor or something that’s probably exactly like what I want, but it’s too far away. The wind kicks up again, drowns it out. Now there’s a motor, just for a moment, a very distant dog bark… barring that air conditioner whoosh it’s the most perfect of background sounds.
I’ve got to remember that by the time it’s the perfect moment for a hammock, it’s far too late to set it up… the hammock should simply ALWAYS be up and running for simply lying and listening. Add the rope creak to all of the above.
Damn. Birds have arrived. Chitter and chirp and high pitched piercing, move along little creatures. You are not welcome here.
September 28th found Kristen and I going to see our friend Gino Abellanosa in the Baltimore Rock Opera Society’s production of The Terrible Secret of Lunastus.
