Journal of a Sabbatical

June 12, 2000

dark eyelash

Adopt these cats at Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society

Today's Bird Sightings:
Rowley, Mass.
cattle egret (1)
glossy ibis (2)

Today's Reading: Summer: From the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau edited by H.G.O. Blake,
The Birds of Brewery Creek by Malcolm MacDonald
Lonely Planet guide to Tibet

Today's Starting Pitcher:
Brian Rose vs. El Duque if it stops raining

Not only do I brake for birds, I'll do a U-turn for them. Someday I'm gonna get killed banging a uie on Rt. 1A. Does everybody do a U-turn for a cattle egret?

I'm driving to the cat shelter for a Purrfect Companions meeting, having allowed myself just about enough time to get a veggie sub at Angelina's beforehand. At the last minute I had thrown my backpack with binoculars, camera, notebook, etc. into the car just in case it was still light out and not raining when the meeting got over. As I pass that big field in Rowley where I sometimes see glossy ibises but never a reeve, I see two glossy ibises and an egret out of the corner of my eye. The color of the egret does not look right. It can't be a snowy, I think to myself. As I'm passing it, the thought "cattle egret" pops into my head. I pull over and wait for oncoming traffic to pass before turning back. I see people getting out of cars with scopes. This would not be happening for a snowy egret and a couple of glossy ibises. I whip out the binoculars for a good look before I even get out of the car. Yup. Cattle egret. Cool.

By the way, it's cold today. The people with scopes are dressed for the weather but I'm not. Turns out they're from the BBC and it's an organized trip. The leader wants to know who I am: "Who have we here? Are you looking for the Brookline Bird Club trip?" "Umm, nope, I was just driving along and saw a cattle egret." They want to know if I want to join them in looking for some cliff swallows. Inexplicably, I let out that I am on my way to the cat shelter and as soon as I realized I've just said "cat" to a bunch of birders, a wave of embarrassment washes over me. I blurt out something about cats and birds and whatever but one of them says there's nothing wrong with cats. Thank goodness these are not cat-hostile birders.

There's not enough time left for getting a sub at Angelina's 'cause it'll be busy at this time of day, so I opt for The Tannery Cafe, which should still be open but not very busy. I consume my veggie burger in record time and manage to be 10 minutes early for the meeting.

There's a whirlwind of activity in the office as I'm trying to photocopy something and find a zip code for somebody who wanted me to mail them Purrfect Companions info. Whiskers had a close call this weekend - some kind of lung problem - and everybody is discussing her. It just all suddenly seems really overwhelming and out of control to me. The meeting too - grandiose plans keep popping up and Martha keeps looking at me when something needs to be done. I keep taking on more work. Suddenly, Martha is saying I can do such and such in the fall and I blurt out: "Would now be a good time to mention I'm going to Tibet in the fall?"

I hang around playing with the two new kittens, Caramel and Buckwheat, wondering how come life in the slow lane seems to be moving as fast as my old life in the fast lane.