Annoyed

Although I generally avoid anthropomorphic attributions of emotion to animals, there have been times when there is no alternative. Like the day when the children were young and they left their Easter eggs on their beds when we went to visit their grandmother. When we returned a few hours later daughter C's dog greeted us with guilt all over his face. There were no Easter eggs left.

This afternoon along the edge of Kawau Bay, I saw two Kawaupaka (Little Shag; Phalacrocrax melanoleucos) on some rocks. As I approached them the fully black juvenile scarpered; before it did I had only one out of focus photo of it. This one, in the intermediate phase, stayed put. And kept checking on what I was doing. At this point, the "glare" was palpable.

Eventually, it caught a breeze and flew away. Rather low to the water. From its appearance, and the sluggish flight, I suspect it was rather wet and would have "preferred" to stay drying in the sun for a little longer. Hence, the "annoyance".

We have come to the beach today, as S' brother was here from Melbourne, visiting their mother. Very relaxing here even though I have chosen to start the agenda reading this weekend for the last meeting of the year in ten days. I have been thinking more and more that I have done my time, and I should seek to be replaced.

At this point, however, I continue and the preoccupation I will have until Thursday next week means that I will have limited time to comment on others' journals. After then I will be almost a free agent, at least for a couple of months.

Beady eyes seen better