Journal of a Sabbatical

February 11, 2001

windy day

Today's Bird Sightings:
Watchemoket Cove
mallard (11)
ring-billed gull (189)
Canada goose (30)
domestic goose (3)
herring gull (10)
common goldeneye (4)
mute swan (47)
American black duck (28)
common black-headed gull (1)
American crow (3)
hooded merganser (2)
bufflehead (2)
canvasback (70)
starling (uncountable)
Colt State Park, Bristol
brant (35)
herring gull (150)
great black-backed gull (2)
American crow (2)
common goldeneye (12)
horned lark (30)
greater scaup (8)
horned grebe (1)
rock dove (12)

Today's Reading: In Audubon's Labrador by Charles Wendell Townsend, The Cat Who Smelled a Rat by Lillian Jackson Braun

I may be too frozen to write much. I'm definitely too windburned.

Nancy sat in the car while I bravely scoped the cove for rarities. I was rewarded with a common black-headed gull and frozen fingers.

The wind sliced through my clothing like a thousand tiny knives. I hate that feeling. Any plans we had for a walk on the East Bay Bike Path fell by the wayside. I desperately want to be one of those lycra people who would be out jogging on a day like this but I just ain't. For one thing my knee stiffens up despite potent arthritis meds. For another thing, I don't know how those lycra people keep from choking on the snot that streams from the sinuses - or maybe dressing in tight lycra and jogging in miserable weather cures that streaming snot thing. And how do they keep exposed flesh from freezing? I have never yet seen a lycra jogger wearing a balaclava.

So I defrosted a little in the car on the way to Colt State Park, which being right on the bay was totally exposed to the wind. People in cars watched the wind kick up big waves and lots of spray. Pretty impressive. Only two people ventured out into the wind: me and a 5 year old. The 5-year-old was bundled up appropriately and was running in circles on the grass. I walked past him to check out the small brown blobs just beyond the medium sized gray blobs (pigeons). I couldn't make out the small brown blobs from the car. They turned out to be a flock of 30 horned larks. Really pretty. They hunkered down against the wind and pecked in the grass. I turned away from them and looked out into the surf where I spotted a small group of scaup and a lone horned grebe. The scaup looked windblown. The grebe looked like it was in its natural element.

I was out of the car for maybe 7 minutes and returned with a windburned face that still hasn't stopped stinging.

We warmed up back in Providence at Tealuxe with a pot of gen mai cha, Nancy's favorite, and grilled cheese toastites.

In other news, Joan-east lent me her copy of The Cat Who Smelled a Rat, the newest Cat Who ... mystery yesterday with instructions to read it before I leave for Budapest and leave it for her to retrieve when she feeds Wilbur during my absence (for the next walking buddy in line to read it). Oddly, it features the destruction of a beloved used book store, a bad guy antiquarian bookseller, and a silent auction to benefit an animal shelter. Where have I read about used bookstores and silent auctions lately?