Room with a View

This window on the natural world brings a sense of peace and joy

- Cathy Beaudoin

During the “stay at home” times we’ve all experienced due to the pandemic, there are days when your spirits flag. On those days, I am especially grateful for the view from my front window. As I sit on the couch looking out, I can see my neighbours’ homes overshadowed by mature maples, beautiful even though they are bare. Most especially, I see our front yard with its towering blue spruce tree, haven to the local birds and wildlife. Between the spruce and the house are the winter skeletons of a hydrangea bush and a cedar hedge.

Closer to the driveway, feeders of shelled peanuts, sunflower seeds, whole peanuts and niger hang from a tall pole. Downy woodpeckers flit on black-and-white striped wings back and forth, taking bits of peanut from the feeder to cache in the weathered bark of the pear tree. There is a pair but they never feed together.

Last winter, a pair of red-breasted nuthatches visited the feeders daily. They are tiny sleek birds coloured similarly, except the male is more vivid. They flit back and forth from the feeder to the outer spruce boughs.