Mid-May, waking up with gratitude at Song of the Morning Clear Light Community. I look out the window at my “rustic” (meaning, it needs work) front yard as it emerges in the slowly-increasing morning light. It’s almost all pine trees, though I look for and find a deciduous tree and see that buds and leaves are just now coming out. The ubiquitous ferns are not showing yet, but I know they will soon be covering most of the ground of the forest and the yard surrounding my house. I consciously listen to the morning sounds, hearing only a few birds and a little wind. I walk outside, in my pajamas, to feel the morning air, crisp and cool, in the high 50s. I hear a distant rumble from the northwest and wonder if is traffic from Sturgeon Valley Road. No, it is the wind rustling the trees some distance away. In a few seconds, I feel a brief gust of cool wind, then it is quiet again. In the outside air, the birds sound more numerous, and I recognize an Indigo Bunting, and the ever-present Red-eyed Vireo. Also a distant woodpecker. There are other birds, whose names I don’t remember, though I know my neighbor Mike Wanger could identify all the sounds. He will have to re-teach me!