I can hear so many birds. Can you? I know it’s because the world is so quiet. Which is a fact I keep thinking about. It’s scary, eerie, feels like the entire planet is holding their breath.
But mostly I’m struck by the birdsong. Matt said he can hear crows calling in a way that reminds him of childhood in Vermont. I just feel like there are so many birds out, the calls so different. I remember my father and his later-in-life interest in birds, and wish he was here to talk about the various bird sounds. When we walk with Mum to Mount Auburn Cemetery we go see what birds have been observed (there’s a chalkboard where people can note what they saw).
The sounds of right now are so particular. I am outside only to run (early) and to walk (with my family or with a friend on the phone – my version of a social distancing walk). I feel like I can hear others breathing when they walk by me. That may be in my head. I can definitely hear birds. I can hear a lot of sirens, it feels like. That sound is jarring, makes me nervous. I don’t know if there are actually more sirens (though their probably are) or I’m just more aware of them.
I’m going to write about what the five senses feel like in this time-out-of-time. And right now I’m struck by silence and by birds singing. Both. The former is unnerving, though in its own way beautiful, and the latter is reassuring.
What are you hearing?