Egret

The sun was out this morning although it's still pretty chilly. It does give  one a different attitude toward everything to see the sun in the morning. Dan and Toby didn't come to coffee this morning, but Dana did. We talked about the upcoming Led Zeppelin movie, Dana's trip to Tucson,  the Super Bowl halftime show and what we will all be doing during the Super Bowl so we don't have to watch it. (The Felon will be there...will Kendrick Lamar sing 'Not Like Us?) . We also talked briefly about the backlash against DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) and wondered how anybody with a conscience could be against it. As the as the grandparent of a transgender grandson, it strikes me that it is a smokescreen and a diversion, and my response to it is thank goodness we live in California which is standing firm against any tampering with state laws.

We had trouble deciding where to go with Spike for a walk this morning. The meadow is undoubtedly a bog and the creek walk too chilly, but we wanted to take advantage of the sunshine so we went to Spring Lake. They were cleaning up after the heavy rain, so cars were off limits, but we parked the car outside the park, climbed over the gate and took a muddy but passable trail above the lake. A hawk sat well camouflaged and  motionless just on the other side of a wire fence next to the trail. Raucous geese, talking continuously flew above us, wheeled around and glided into a perfect landing on the lake. The egret in the main shot, unlike the hawk, stood out its pristine white feathers in contrast to the muddy lake. 

The trail around the lake had been inundated with mud when the overflow from the creek, well...overflowed, and a couple of bulldozers were cleaning up, so we stuck to the upper trails, and discovered a couple we'd never been on. On the way home we saw a heron standing on the edge of a still strongly flowing creek. Outside the living room window three ravens jousted over the suet, their iridescent black feathers glistening like motor oil in the sun.

There's nothing like good company followed by some sunshine and  a dose of nature to clear the head and give one a new lease on life. It probably helped that for some reason the newspaper didn't come this morning, although we worried that the sweet Hispanic woman who delivers it is herself worried about being deported.