Sentimental

Definition: expressive of or appealing to sentiment, esp. the tender emotions and feelings, as love, pity, or nostalgia

Can sentiment be escaped? I do my best to not get cheery eyed when true love beats the odds and conquers all. I don't know true love, and I do not know if it exists. I know joy, sadness, pain, pleasure, and a few others. I feel joy when I gambol through the woods or watch my niece play. I feel sadness when I don't get a job I want or when a tragedy takes a life sooner than I expect. I feel pain when a Bald Eagle pinches my skin through a glove or I touch a hot pan. I feel pleasure when I drink a well-crafted beer or a friend massages my shoulders. These emotions are easy to describe in simple scenarios.

True love is not so easy to describe. What defines true love. Many epitaphs and stories attempt to answer this question. Theories like: there is only one soul mate for each of us and we will know them when we find them. I am more enthralled by the lust of Pan's flute than this illogical search. I have heard the lyrics of love songs. They have been flooding into my head since my first Hank Williams record. The Beatles wrote, "All you need is love, dadadada." I want love, but I don't need the cookie-cutter kind. Love is all around me. I can love without true love.

So why this concept of true love?

Count #1 Complete

I have completed my first two-day count period. My species counts are as follows:
6 Black-capped Chickadees
6 Purple Finches
2 White-breasted Nuthatch
2 Red-breasted Nuthatch
4 American Goldfinches
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Blue Jay

10:30AM seemed to be a bustling hour at the feeder. The early morning and late afternoons were filled with squirrel antics. Including a red squirrel chasing a gray squirrel twice its size. I am going to construct buffers for the feeder to create an impasse for squirrels. Additionally, I would like to build a suet feeder. This might attract woodpeckers. I noticed the Purple Finches move about like a synchronized swim team. The banded female White-breasted nuthatch visited this morning. Her elegance caught my eye as she grabbed her seed perched upside-down. In short, I look forward to the rest of the feeder watch season and hope the Dark-eyed Juncos return.