Missing home

Most of the time I absolutely love living in Baltimore. One thing though that I really miss about West Virginia is that pretty much anywhere you went in the state, you were completely surrounded by nature. I was reading my dad's blog earlier, and today he posted a blog about birds nesting at his house. At my house in St. Albans I had about thirty trees on my lot, so I always had an abundance of birds. Most mornings during the Spring and Summer I would wake to the most beautiful music coming from the trees. And I had a family of House Finches that decided to make their home in the awning of my front porch. I was able to watch that family go from building the nest and laying the eggs, all the way to the babies hatching and eventually leaving the nest. If you are interested, this is a post from last year telling about the family, complete with pictures.

Here in Baltimore, I don't have nearly the access to nature that I did in WV, and I really do miss it. At my apartment complex, "nature" is implied with the landscaping. If I wake to any noise, it is usually my neighbors having sex or watching TV, noise that is far less happy to wake to than the music of birds chirping happily to the rising sun. And the birds here don't have many trees and such to make nests in, so most of them have made nests in the dryer vents. Which to me is terrifying--I am so afraid that I am going to roast a little baby bird when I dry my clothes! But I guess they wouldn't nest there though if that was a real possibility. Doesn't stop me from worrying though. :) They have learned to adapt to their surroundings, something that I guess will happen to me in time.