Finding Beauty Everywhere in Everyday Ramblings

My oldest sister would probably not be happy that I am posting this except that she looks really good considering what she has been through with her cancer and the treatment and her smile is big and genuine and I was so happy to see that. We were being silly and you can see that in Miss E.’s oh so grown up smile. She doesn’t normally look quite this grown up but she was tired after three dance performances in two days and school and… She is taller than me now.

I took my secret prize award eight hours off today. Last Saturday was the 4th anniversary of Mr. Finch’s death and it was a bit disconcerting to not honor his passing in the way I have the last three years so Kes suggested I take a work day off and we would go birding near the cemetery and eat a late breakfast out. Today it is hazy and the sky is full of glare.

The place we went was full of lupines just about to bloom and we saw the most spectacular Lazuli Bunting singing his heart out from various angles. They are small birds and I didn’t have a long enough lens but I got a shot that showed his spectacular blue head. We also saw a gorgeous little yellow bird with a black mask right next to him that we thought was a Yellow-breasted Chat but on reflection we decided had to be a Common Yellowthroat.

We ran into one of my favorite people from Women’s Circle, an intrepid 78 year old out on the trail with a friend.

The day has just flown by. I’ll be working from home tomorrow and then teaching in the evening. But then I have nothing scheduled for Saturday! Provisioning and trying to recharge my batteries and visiting you all are loosely on the agenda. The somewhat traumatic trip home from Seattle took its toll. And like many of you we are experiencing weirdly hot weather. But the rains will be back tomorrow.

I am happy we live in a world in which gorgeous multihued little songbirds still have a place.