Out of Whack

It’s not every year we get snow in dogwood season. This particular year, the wild weather simply adds to the impression that the world is completely out of whack.

spiderweb catching snowflakes their little spikes

Marooned in our homes, tempers fray. We wonder how long this will go on, worry about finances and food shortages. I watch a pair of scarlet tanagers—treetop birds—reduced to feeding near the ground and foraging for invertebrates in the creek.

redder than our open mouths tanager

But spring is always a puzzle: the innumerable ways that spikiness blossoms and leaves us.