Esoterika

Things I enjoyed on my walk from work:

breeze shaking all the shining leaves and whisking small clouds by overhead

fuzzy Canada goslings trying to yank grass in their parents' business-like manner

St. John's wort vigorously sprouting in the toxic gravel next to an old gas station

Violet-green swallows swooping and singing over the weedy empty lots, their white bellies flashing

red-headed house finch chirping melodiously while perched on a strand of barbed wire

Rules: Post 3 things you've done that you believe nobody else on your F-list has done. Indulge in remorse if someone calls you out on a listed item.

This one really tickled my fancy. It was interesting to think through my experiences in these terms. Trouble is, I couldn't restrict myself to three things. Here's an assortment...

1. tried to extricate a prairie falcon that had sunk its talons into someone else’s palms during a medical procedure
2. had adolescent chimney swifts attempt to perch on my lower lip (and successfully perch on my chest, arms, legs, and in my hair)
3. had a tipi as my primary residence (not on a camping trip, not in the SCA)
4. interviewed Ursula K. Le Guin
5. received a personal letter from Andre Norton
6. fainted while holding a heron
7. had a 5 lb. fibroid/ had one removed
8. toured the non-public biological specimen warehouses at UC Berkeley
9. had one of my poems and one of my essays used in university curricula
10. helped my mom harvest feathers from roadkill
11. been bitten by a goose at the Bronx Zoo
12. had lunch at Windows on the World, the restaurant at the top of the Twin Towers
13. touched the Rosetta stone
14. sculpted a caribou in cream cheese
15. built giant foam flamingo costumes
16. pitched one of my novels to a NY editor, and been asked to send in the manuscript

...but do correct me if I’m wrong

'Tis the season when hordes of birds such as robins and waxwings descend upon our yard to eat the holly and other winter berries... which means that several times daily the office windows are lined with chattering cats making the helpless "ack-ack-ack" sound of frustrated feline desire for prey. I wonder if anyone has ever studied when and why cats make that seemingly involuntary noise?