Status Updates From Laughter on the Stairs

Give me a whole book about the machinations of Gardener Oldfield. 🤣

Well the bird song chapter was just completely delightful. My favorite so far.

“We are so obsessed with the ‘Nature red in tooth and claw’ school of thought that we overlook the fact that nature, very often, wears a broad grin. Elephants gambol, dolphins sport, all the felines indulge in the craziest tricks, out of sheer high spirits. Even crabs, I suspect, must sometimes kick up their heels as they slither over the rocks, and give each other playful nips” (159).

Beverley has a robin friend named Ernest and I read about him while drinking from my robin mug!

“This fourth spring I went bird’s-nesting, by which I do not mean crashing like a bison through the bushes, wrecking other people’s houses. It was a question of watching, and listening, and, when the time came, of standing and staring. For the miracle of a bird’s nest is almost the greatest miracle of all” (150).

“The scents of autumn are more exciting too; bitter-sweet and nostalgic and elusive. The mosses under the copper beech have a fragrance more haunting than any April blossom; and the last few roses of summer, which are almost scentless when you pick them out-of-doors…will fill a whole room with perfume when you bring them into the warmth of the house” (121).