Today

this morning I saw a little old man, pulling his newspaper from the bin at the end of his driveway. Tufted white hair sticking every which way, in black and white checkered pajama pants and a t-shirt. He looked like an adorable little gnome that just woke up and crawled out from a hundred year nap.

Three birds sat on a telephone wire, nudging each other and jockeying for space. They weren’t little, but not surprisingly, Bob Marley is now stuck in my head.

I saw a handsome guy walking two boxers (the dogs, not the pugilists), and I was admiring his dogs I realized he thought I was admiring him, as he offered a wave and a tentative smile from across the street. Sometimes (okay, a lot of times) when I’m inside my head in observation mode, I forget that other people can see me when I’m staring. This has caused untold awkward moments over the years, that thankfully usually end with a laugh.

I watched the sunrise through the trees from a dark canopy of leafy branches, I swear I felt it break over the horizon and little dappled pockets of golden warmth popped into existence all along the forest floor.

I like to stop on this little bridge in my wanderings, because morning, noon, or evening, the light is always it’s own sort of perfect.

At this very moment I am exultant, as I have crossed paths with a woodpecker. There’s something about those birds, about their ridiculous drilling noises, the way that they hop up and down the tree like a phone company guy in a harness scooching up and down a telephone pole. I am also, alas, lamenting the third cup of coffee I had this morning as I am currently about a half an hour away from a restroom 😬

Here’s some giant leafy thing that looks like wrinkly elephant ears.

I saw a cardinal, a tiny spot of brilliant red amidst the green, but it flew off before I could frame up the picture. Cardinals were my great grandma Cora’s favorite bird, so it’s always a random treat when one alights nearby.

I don’t have enough time for a sit-a-spell on my favorite thinking log, what with the whole veering off course looking for a porta-potty in the middle of the woods, so here’s a photo I took of it a few weeks ago:

This is my companionable companion, Bob, who hangs out with me there. I imagine that Bob was the drunk friend who says, nonono, I’m totally fine, just let me chill here for a bit and twiddle my fingers in the water…

This has been a free-flow real-time bit of nonsense.