M's Birds

This is something that happened earlier this year, and I wasn't there at the time (V told me), but I wanted to mention it before I forgot.

M likes to feed the birds next to the lake. (There are signs warning against this but the locals ignore them too.) Usually when people throw bread to the birds it is a riot of squawks and feathers. Once however, M sat very quietly on a stump with some bread and the birds flocked around her as usual, but this time she only fed the ones that were waiting patiently and quietly. After a short while the birds got the idea and held as still as possible on the ground, in a circle around M, who was sitting zen-like. Occasionally she would flick a small piece of bread out to a bird who she thought was patient enough. It lasted long enough that V said the people walking by stopped to watch in amazement.