Hepatic Tanager
Posted: May 4, 2012 Filed under: schnauzer follies, Writers Write | Tags: bird watching, Hepatic Tanager, progress, walking 2 Comments »On most days, Jasmine Tea Schnauzer and I walk in the park. The two-mile loop winds through the a dense forest of live oak, persimmon, limestone, and cactus. A crushed granite path crunches beneath our feet. It’s secluded, but we’re never alone. We have friends–joggers, bikers, and other dog walkers. Beanie, the English Bulldog, is enamoured with Jaz. Teddy, the Yorkie, isn’t.
This plot of real estate could have been the setting for a John Wayne movie. Now, it’s in the middle the city, a hold out from a by-gone time. Dairy cattle grazed here not long ago. The original owner, a widow living alone, wouldn’t sell to the developers who tacked up cardboard apartment buildings along the main drag. The dairy went under, but the land was valuable. A bank sent out a man to corral the cows and convince the lady to sell. He was inept. She was smart. She wanted to stay in her clapboard farm-house. He failed like one of those slick visitors to Green Acres or Petticoat Junction or Mayberry. A local judge convinced her to will the farm to the city.
This is where I saw the Hepatic Tanager. He shouldn’t live here. It’s too far east, a little too far north, and usually, too humid. Chalk that up to climate change. Smaller than a cardinal, the bird sings a familiar song, a long single note.
Isn’t it great? She wouldn’t take the money.
Photo, courtesy of Creative Commons.
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Out Of the Box
Posted: September 24, 2011 Filed under: Aha!, Writers Write | Tags: artists, creativity, family, inspiration, Making Hay, Public Art, Tom Otterness, Urban Dictionary, walking, writers, writing Leave a comment »
The Urban Dictionary says the phrase “describes nonconformal, creative thinking. Some innovative way or breakthrough.” I see it as getting my butt out of the chair and off the computer. It’s time to fill up the well–or whatever. Blame the heat, or the fire in New Mexico, or an ongoing lack of funds. It’s been too long. So . . . out of the box and into the field.
A few miles from home, I found this public art installation, Making Hay by New York artist, Tom Otterness. The 18-foot-tall figures made of steel and hay are definitely out of the box.
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Synchronicity, Not
Posted: July 5, 2011 Filed under: Aha!, Writers Write | Tags: Trusting Your Instincts, walking, writers, writing Leave a comment »I met a woman with a golden retriever. The dog’s head collar didn’t fit and yanked her all over the trail. I said something like, “My dog doesn’t like that collar, either.”
“Can you help me?”
The collar was too loose. I adjusted it, and the dog walked obediently.
In conversation I learned the golden had belonged to a friend, who was too depressed to care for it.
“She hasn’t gone to the bathroom in two days. Should I take her to the vet?”
“Is she grieving?”
“I don’t think so. She seems happy with me.”
The dog looked great, happy and beautiful, but change is hard on everybody. “She’s fine, Give her a few more days.” It was the answer the lady wanted, needed.
It’s funny how we look for answers from perfect strangers. I walked on thinking, what a good scene for the opening of a novel. A character, who doesn’t make friends easily meets one randomly walking someone else’s dog. The second character has trouble making decisions, and she’s insecure about the ones she’s already made.
I’ll never see this woman again. I don’t know her name, the dog’s name, or her depressed friend’s name. But I was able to solve her problem. Is that how things start? Randomly. I’ve always lived by the concept of “meant to be.” Maybe, I’ve assigned too much meaning to events. What if life is more a spin of the wheel than the synchronicity of the soul?
I told myself to keep my eyes open. Move forward.
