Suddenly summer

I live in a strange place. Half the year it is so cold that you risk your life by going outside. And pity those who live outside in it - fur fluffed and feathers puffed and beaks stuffed with suet just to keep going through another frozen minute.

And then one day the world is bright green all over and there are young squirrels arm wrestling, butterflies flying erratically, dive bombing tree swallows (jeez, just because I peaked in their nest box), baby starlings carousing, toads snoring dreamily, cats pouncing, dragonflies buzzing and mosquitoes biting everyone including me! The plants seem to grow while you watch them and if you fall asleep under a wee bush it might not be so wee when you wake up again.

I don't know where the chipmunks were hiding all winter but they are at their full strength now and they run from my rain gutter and into my neighbor's yard, somehow getting passed my watchful eye. I am going to stay here and watch for them if it takes the rest of the summer for me to figure out how to catch them!