A Car Free Day

Junco Approaching Feeder

I didn't think about it until I was typing the post's title, but there is an interesting juxtaposition between the words car-free and carefree.  Today was a car free day for me and a carefree one as well.  We had another good sized snow last night and together with relatively warm (27 degrees) temperature, today was a nice day to just hang about the house and yard and neighborhood.   It was one of those rare days when I could walk to the store pulling my grandson on a sled through the snow most of the way before the snow shoveling got serious.

There is something very peaceful about walking in the snow - when it is not too cold and when the air is still. The snow muffles the sound of traffic and other mechanical noises, and yet I found that the sounds of the birds calling were much more clear to my ears.  Normally I can't hear that much at all due to hearing loss and tinnitus, but today, the crowds of juncos were indeed music to my ears.

Today was a day to watch the birds come to the bird feeder (we saw junco, house sparrow, purple (or maybe house) finches with their pretty red heads, nut hatch, chickadee, cardinals and blue jays at the feeder and woodpeckers (hairy and red bellied) and crows in the trees.  It was a busy afternoon at the feeder.

I wonder if our days will be more like this when oil becomes just too expensive for us to drive our cars very much?  Not entirely a bad thing, is it?