Close Encounter With a Hawk

Tuesday morning’s walk was lovely because there was no rain/drizzle went and the forest scents were delicious. And when we got home, there was real rain—the kind you can hear on a tin roof (and I love  the sound). I don’t mind the rain at all  if Sheba’s been walked and I can stay indoors by the fire. Besides, it’s warm out. And the rain lasted only minutes.

At 10:30 am, the woman from across the street who was removed by ambulance earlier in the morning, came home. She walked herself into her home from the same car that preceded the ambulance at dawn. I’m happy my neighbour, a young mother, is okay.

In the afternoon I took Sheba for a second short walk, did some shopping and came home to nap, have a spa and read a New Yorker.  Ah, the retired country life!

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I have an appointment on Monday with a lawyer to file my will. I am super glad that I have finally taken action. That’s another thing crossed off my “to do” list.

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Going outside this morning is like diving underwater. It’s not raining. Every few hours we get a light drizzle, but the clouds are low and it feels like four thousand percent humidity out there. But once I get out there on my morning dog walk, I see and smell and feel only the beauty of the day. As long as it ain’t rainin’, I’m a happy walker.

Just before I left, a Cooper’s Hawk (or a Merlin) perched on my driveway gate, perhaps three meters from me and just outside my office window. What a treat it was to see something so majestic, so closely. When I left for my walk, there wasn’t a single song bird in sight, whereas usually there are scores of them gorging at my feeders.

An hour-and-a-half later, I saw the first songbird coming back to feed. And the sky started clearing and the land started drying out. Hooray!

Joy Milne can smell undiagnosed Parkinson's disease.

A nurse in Scotland can smell Parkinson’s before it is diagnosed, and researchers are hoping she can help on the search for a breakthrough. Link.