Nary a Dull Moment in Everyday Ramblings

So the walk with Mr. Fine China on Sunday turned out to be very birdy. And he is genuinely interested in birds, which is lovely because I am too. On top of that our levels of knowledge are about the same. He knows the local birds better than I do and I know about a broader variety than he does. We walked the 3-mile long multi-use trail through a restored wetland that is literally down below his house. He showed me his roof from the trail and then after we walked back the 3 miles we went to the house and saw the trail from there.

We saw swans and a beautiful lacy egret; we saw common mergansers, grebes with their beautiful necks all hunched up, coots and buffleheads and a northern shoveler or two. At one point we were up on a ridge with the treetops right at eye level and we saw a gorgeous red-tailed hawk wing in. We saw two juvenile bald eagles. Heard them first. And we also heard quite a variety of frogs.

I was nervous seeing him again. First he took me to the building his office is in (he has moved since I worked for him) so we could use the restroom and he could show me a display downstairs about a Blue Angels pilot that was shot down the last day of the Vietnam War and never found. The building is named after him. One of his flying buddies was Mr. Fine China’s first commanding officer.

Then after our two-hour walk we went up to his house. It is on a very quiet cul-de-sac and is custom built. It is not a big house, one floor, three bedrooms, low ceilings but it has beautiful decking and a lot of property and is far enough from neighbors to be wonderfully serene. The kitchen is fabulous. It is the showpiece of the house. It is oriented towards a dining area that has this large bright bay and a view of the woods. The people who owned it previously built it about 20 years ago.

We got more comfortable with each other as the day progressed. We looked at bird books after the grand tour and I showed him some yoga poses for his sore knees. He is an insulin dependent diabetic and has to be careful about eating so we had a late lunch and then he brought me home.

His daughter was down from Seattle for the weekend and one of his 24-year-old twin boys is living with him until the end of the month when he starts a new job up in Seattle. I didn't meet them in their adult versions as they were both out giving dad some space.

I got to see all the outdoor gear. The river raft, the kayaks, the fishing poles and camping gear and the precious man cave tool shop in the back. He is really well organized. He will definitely be a good influence on me in that arena should we choose to keep seeing each other.

I really enjoyed the walk. I haven’t had anyone to share my bird-i-ness with except the family and folks met on dedicated bird outings so it is a gift that we have this in common.

We shared personal stories and the conversational flow was easy and two sided. Later we got to talking about physical stuff and I told him about what the shingles was like (he has had the vaccine, yippee) and he told be about a very intense hypoglycemic seizure he had in his sleep just after we stopped seeing each other. He is very lucky to have survived that. It had to do with a new type of insulin he was trying and something a doctor forgot to tell him.

There was some hearty discussion about youth being wasted on the young.

My oldest sister does have cancer. She is having her CT scan today and we should know what stage she is at by this time next week and how invasive the surgery will be. She’s doing okay.

Kes is coming up for dinner and a clothes exchange this evening. I have my monster big important project roll out presentation at work in the morning. Please wish me well. I need all the help I can get.

The substitute teaching yoga was an absolute blast. I loved it. On Friday (if I have any students) I teach my very first studio class that I am fully in charge of. It is very exciting.

Nary a dull moment in my world right now.