Known by its absence

The fog billowed in like smoke, temporarily obscuring the sky.  The air smelled like bbq.  So much traffic, dodging cars just to get to the bus stop.  The bartender introduced himself last night as I closed my dinner tab, I'm not quite a regular, but maybe I'm becoming one.  Sitting in the cafe to read and write, the latter not quite going as I'd hoped.  Practice.

Long walk at lunch, to check out the wildlife.  The osprey have returned, nesting on the designated platform created for them.  Circling and chirping over the water.  As I look toward the nest a heron flies low over my head to land in the near pond.  Possible sighting of a cinnamon teal a little further on, but too far to be certain.

Late in the day, I feel an absence and realize I've lost a necklace I just bought from a friend.  I loved the necklace.  I check lost and found after work, and then re-trace my entire walk from earlier in the day, backward.  It gets a second walk in.  The air is pleasant, the sun is shining, if dropping lower in the horizon.  Back in the Fill, an eagle chases an opsrey, but the latter is more agile in flight, and it banks and gains more and more distance.  Some crows join in and chase off the eagle.  A woodpecker knocks on a nearby tree.

I don't find the necklace.  Slightly sad about it, but maybe it wasn't meant to be mine, and I hope it found a new home.  Money is only an exchange of energy, not a guarantee of ownership.  I got a week of enjoyment from it, and a good walk and wildlife sighting.  This morning when I was telling a co-worker about it, my story was interrupted by a rabbit leaping down from a planter and coming to look at us through the glass door, and then hopping away again.  I guess we're trading sightings now: I usually go out to look for it.

Needed a dress.  Went to Goodwill.  Tried on a bunch, then as I was about to pay for one, found the rack of the nicer dresses, and then found one of those that fit...trade a necklace for a rabbit and a dress?  I guess so.