Winter Migration

There was a single common redpoll at the Wonders' bird feeders today. It was traveling in a small flock of American goldfinches.

It wasn't a rare or unique sighting, of course. Common redpolls are, for lack of a better phrase, fairly common in winter. But there's no guarantee that you'll see them around the old town every year. Some winters, the little birds are plentiful and will outnumber other species at the feeders. In other years, they won't be around at all.

Common redpolls, I'm told, live in the far north for most of the year. In the winter, they migrate further south. Sometimes they just don't make it this far south. Two years have passed without a sign of them at the Wonders' place.

The best part of the common redpoll is the small red patch on its head. Even on the most dreary of winter days, the bright red patch seems defiantly beautiful and optimistic. So it's comforting to see one back again. If there's one, there will surely be more to follow.

In some ways, the common redpoll is like a good friend who drops by from time to time. There's no pattern to the visits; sometimes the friend comes, but sometimes he doesn't. But when he does come, it's always a welcome surprise.

***

Jimmy is back in the Sack.

He has returned to his familiar perch on Florence's porch. God willing, he'll be there until the warm air of spring is upon us.

Jimmy, for the uninitiated, is Florence's father. He is a wizened, leprechaun of a man, who's probably in his early eighties. He lives in a rural area about four hours north of the old town, but has stayed with Florence during the winter for the past five years. Since the death of his wife and a decline in his mobility, Florence prefers that he's not alone during the harsh winter months.

Usually, Jimmy shows up in the Sack in early November. This year, Florence says her father was still okay by himself because of the mild winter. She said he probably could have stayed at home even longer, but both expect it will get more wintry at any time.

Oscar says this is a good example of how global warming will affect us in ways that we can't possibly predict. I suppose he has a point.

***

Jimmy has certainly had his share of health problems. Last year, an ambulance roared into the Sack on two occasions for his benefit. Thankfully, he keeps bouncing back.

After his last setback, Jimmy needed a walker to get around. For a time, it was excruciating to watch as he made his way down the porch steps. At any moment, you expected him, as Big Doug put it, "to go arse over tea kettle" onto the pavement. Somehow, Jimmy managed his way up and down without incident.

This year, he's using only a sturdy metal cane. This is certainly a good sign.

***

Jimmy is a notable character in a number of ways.

Firstly, he's an experienced and ardent cigarette smoker. Unfortunately for Jimmy, Florence won't allow him to smoke in the house. So Jimmy spends a considerable part of the day and evening outside on the porch. He sits on a wooden stool placed there for this very purpose.

But Jimmy doesn't seem to mind the arrangement. It gives him a chance to socialize with anyone who ventures into earshot. Even if you're fifty feet away, he'll yell out a greeting of some kind. It doesn't seem to matter very much if you've already exchanged greetings with him half an hour ago. He doesn't mind doing it again.

There is nothing wrong with this at all, of course. There's a simple charm to his banter and he always seems to be in an upbeat mood. We could probably use more of this in the Sack.

***

Jimmy is almost always wearing a dark brown fedora.

The only time he doesn't wear the hat is when he's driving his car. He takes the fedora off at the last moment before he gets in the car. He puts it back on the second he steps out again.

Oscar thinks it will be a very fine day if fedoras and other hats become fashionable among men again. People, he said, seem to be more polite and considerate to each other when they're wearing hats.

Oscar admits his impression is taken from movies and television of the 1950s. He thinks it would also be very cool if people started talking very quickly to each other like they do in the old gangster movies.

***

Aging seems to have brought Jimmy his share of driving adventures.

Despite several nasty accidents, he has retained his driver's license. Even though Florence doesn't like it, Jimmy likes to go for a drive every few days, as long as the roads are clear.

Last year, Jimmy had an accident on a road not far from the Sack. Apparently, he had a stroke while he was driving. That's how he ended up with the walker.

***

Unfortunately, Jimmy doesn't know his way around the old town very well. He became lost on a few past occasions, so he has agreed only to drive to places that Florence approves. These are places she knows he can find his way back from.

***

Jimmy has a souvenir license plate at the front of his car. It declares his support for the Chicago Blackhawks. He also has a jacket that's adorned with the team's emblem.

He's a big fan of the Chicago Blackhawks.

This may not seem unusual to most people, but in the old town, it's quite odd. People usually support the Montreal Canadians, the Boston Bruins or the Toronto Maple Leafs. This year, there are even some Pittsburgh Penguins fans.

There are very few who would even think of the Chicago Blackhawks. In fact, there are a lot of people in Chicago who don't even think about the Blackhawks anymore.

***

Of course, Jimmy has a very good reason for liking the Chicago Blackhawks. He grew up with a guy who started playing for the Blackhawks in the late 1940s. The guy played there for about five years before his career ended because of an injury.

Jimmy seems to operate on the belief that everyone else is also a big fan of the Chicago Black Hawks. If they've played the night before, he'll be sure to ask if you've heard the score. Even if you already know, Jimmy will tell you again, anyway. He'll also rhyme off the name of each of the Blackhawk's goal scorers.

***

Since Oscar works from home, he's the person Jimmy sees most often during the day.

Oscar thinks it's unfortunate that Florence won't allow Jimmy to smoke somewhere in the house. There are times when it's very cold outside and he'll be huddled on the porch by himself.

Oscar once asked Florence why she wouldn't let Jimmy smoke in the house. Florence said she has allergies and wouldn't manage well with smoke in her house. Also, she'd prefer that her father quit smoking. More important, she said that Oscar should "mind his own beeswax."

Oscar said he was going to let Jimmy smoke in his garage, but his wife, B.W. wouldn't agree. She also told him to mind his own beeswax.

***

Oscar's car wouldn't start one morning and he needed to get to a work-related meeting.

Jimmy offered to drive him wherever he needed to go. Oscar politely declined, but Jimmy was insistent. It was clear, he said later, that Jimmy really wanted to help.

Oscar accepted the invitation.

***

Oscar got to his meeting safely. Jimmy said he would be happy to wait for him, but Oscar declined. Jimmy drove off and Oscar thought this would be the end of it.

When he got home at the end of the day, he noticed that Jimmy's car still wasn't back in the Sack. He knocked on Florence's door and found her in a frantic state because her father wasn't home. When Oscar told her about Jimmy driving him to a meeting, she was furious. She told him again that he should mind his own beeswax, as far as her father was concerned. This time, however, she said it in a far more colourful way.

Thankfully, Jimmy found his way home again. He did get lost for a while, but eventually found his way again. He also told Florence that Oscar had nothing to do with his tardiness. He stressed that it was his idea to drive Oscar to the meeting. Florence apologized to Oscar, but asked that he refrain from letting her father take him anywhere in the future. Oscar was happy to agree.

***

Oscar said it was no surprise that Jimmy would stand up for him in the face of Florence's wrath. Anyone who's been loyal to the Chicago Blackhawks for so long, just because of a childhood friend, would probably be a loyal neighbour, as well.

It's also the least one would expect, he added, from someone who wears a fedora.

***