Edisto 2

 February 3, 2023

Rain breaking just after noon. We toured the Edisto State Park, discussed the difference between cormorant and anhinga. Many serene pelicans. The nice lady at the gift shop confessed that she, too, could not find sharks; teeth. The man who fixed Alan’s furnace ate lunch at the place where we were eating, a good sign.  Went birding by myself in the afternoon. Cedar waxwings thronged the palmettos, eating the berries, twittering their merry twitter. Locals on bikes assured me that the calm pond behind our house contained alligators. Saw none, but did see a considerable flock of hooded mergansers. Any alligators that may be lie shivering down in the mud. Walked a second time to the shore, and watched happy dogs playing frisbee with their masters. Walked to a magical stone wall, its top covered in moss, and the moss thronged with long-legged birds, plovers and sandpipers and a, in this crowd, lordly willet. One sanderling did not move except to switch legs to stand upon. Sat and watched a long time. The birds, unperturbed, grazed within inches of my hand. One can sit on a stone staring out to see a very long time. Doing so, I considered that I have been wrong about my whole life, what it meant, what were its dimensions. The trauma was surprisingly small against the vastness of the sea.