mid-summer

Had been planning to write about how lovely this time of year is. How I saw the first snake (locally) in years last Friday (a garter snake) while out looking for a green heron sighting or turtles, the turtles were far off and the heron was no where to be seen, but as I turned back toward the path the small black snake slithered out of the dry grass on onto the path. I think we surprised each other. Then, while I was watching it, a jogger came by (male) and made a small scream, quite possibly as a joke because I was watching the snake, and jumped over it, and the snake went in the opposite direction and almost got ran over by two more joggers before slithering into the shady patch of dry grass on the other side of the path. Disappeared almost immediately, couldn't figure out where it went. Yesterday I saw a lone goldfinch in an apple tree and later spotted a couple of hawks in the ravine, mostly by locating their calls. They were very vocal. Late-ish afternoon, sun starting to drop in the sky, think they had been hunting.

Today, I arrived at work only to open my email to find that my father had been hospitalized, and then checked voicemail to find a call from my mother that I missed this morning. So, obviously I took off the remainder of the week to go up there. Just waiting for the right time to catch the bus to the ferry. So far, the transit system still is pretty good on the weekdays.

Peace