This guy greeted me this morning halfway up the block from our house. We’ve heard him calling every morning, all spring and into the summer. Fifteen years ago, when we first moved to here, a party of four peafowl roamed the neigh-borhood (I say “party” because that’s what a group of male and female “peafowl” are. I say “peafowl, ’cause that includes the “hens” and “cocks,” I say “c…” oh nevermind).
Over the years cars and coyotes and time have dwindled the party to this one lonely fellow (I wonder if he feels how I feel at the end of a party, I’m not an early departer, I always hating to leave early — I hate to miss something).
We hear him often, we see him occasionally. This summer, we’ve seen him most days, hanging out on one or another driveway. This morning, right when I came along, he opened his feathers. I had my camera, just hoping I’d run into him. It was like he knew. He did a few slow turns: front, side, back. This is the back view.
When I squatted down he came toward me, sideways in these tiny little steps. I don’t know if he was falling for the tinkly sounds my camera makes or if he was trying to scare me. If he was trying to scare me, well I’ve gotta say, “Mr. Peacock, my fine feathered friend (it is the perfect moment to use that phrase, isn’t it?), I’m not scared but I might be in love.”
As I walked on up the big hill, I could hear his strange call, something between a cat and a baby and an elephant.
He’s lonely. Do you have a friend for him?
This for instance. He stands guard, sometimes by the front door, sometimes by the sidewalk leading to the front door. Right now, he’s watching over the vegetable garden. The other day two little girls with umbrellas stopped to have a conversation with him. One of the girls put her ladybug umbrella down (yes, I was jealous of the umbrella) and picked him up. She moved him just a bit to the right. He looks much happier in the new spot, don’t you think? 
I spent six hours in the garden today. I started off feeling like a 25 year old and ended up feeling like a 75 year old (a sore, achy one). But it was totally worth it. The sun was shining and there was a wee breeze. I raked, clipped, dug, planted, cleaned up, swept up, washed up. Lots of things are coming up, a few are already blooming. The pansies 
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