Yesterday was a beautiful fall day, the first day of fall in fact. We were a group of ten writers gathered in the backyard of a friend in Saskatoon. We were seated in a large circle, duly spaced according to COVID-19 regulations, far enough from traffic noise and close enough to each other to hear as we visited about writing and life in general.

Then another voice made itself heard. A blue jay landed on a branch above the heads of those of us sitting on one side of the circle and began making raucous comments. It was answered by another jay perched on the garage roof. After a short chat the jays departed and left the rest of us to continue our conversation.