WHEN I WAS a little boy, I spent a lot of time with my grandmother and grandad. And loved every minute of it. They lived in a small house in a deep but narrow lot, on a green and leafy street in Alton, Illinois. It was my favorite place in the world. And my favorite part of my favorite place was the screen porch on the side of the house, next to a small green space (12×18?) filled with bushes and small trees. And there my grandad fed the birds. And squirrels. It was not such a common thing in those days—the early 1960’s—but I remember many wonderful hours with my grandparents, on the porch, sharing breakfast perhaps, just a few feet away from blue jays and cardinals, cottontails and gray squirrels.

Now, here in the Pine Point Woods/Church O The Pines, we feed the birds, too. It is no kind of world class operation, but we enjoy giving our friends and neighbors just a little help, and they give us many gifts in return. One of them—memories of a tiny green space in a small yard, shared with cardinals and jays—and two people I loved and will love forever.