It's the Ciiiiiircle of Liiiife

It's a lazy Sunday on the couch with the Times and I happen to glance out the window just as a strange "pop" emanates from the waste vent pipe on the roof of the service garage down the block. I see something that looks strangely like a bird arc out of it and hit the ground. Then I notice the hawk--I'm not sure what kind, but not an overly large one--which has been sitting on the roof of a neighbor's house swoop down and snatch up the bird, which is about ½ the size of the hawk. The hawk must've heard the trapped and/or injured bird and was waiting for a solution to how to get this easy prey.
The hawk clamps in its jaw the bird by its midsection. Nate and I listen while the bird expires. Sad squawk-y screeches and then nothing. The hawk is being vigilant all the while, it's head moving around to keep an eye out for predators and rival hawks, I guess.
Finally, he clamps the bird in his massive claws and starts plucking and eating. He plucks a bit, feathers flying and floating on the breeze; then he eats a bit, stringy, bloody grossness hanging from his beak.
We live in the suburbs of a large city. Less than a mile from three different "ghettos." We never saw anything like this when we lived on the farm in Lancaster County. The chemicals had killed off all but the mice and the barn swallows and barn cats there. Since we've moved here, I've checked many birds off in my birding book. I've known squirrels well enough to name them and be sad when they stop coming around and have had the pleasure of sitting on my back porch at dusk and watching "our" bats keeping our large yard relatively free of bugs.
The world continues to amaze and educate me.

more blahg blergh

I just really haven't had much of import to say lately. I still don't, but in the interest of cheering myself a bit and keeping this blog active, following is a list of things which make me happy. [Note: This list is just "stuff" and does not include important things like friends and family... It's just "stuff."]
1) that shade of orange which you normally see in Shinto shrines
2) mashed potatoes with sauerkraut
3) finding a package of free books on my doorstep
4) an email in my inbox which is an actual letter to me
5) Cincinnati chili 5-ways
6) scarlet and crimson
7) a great song I totally forgot about coming on the jukebox or radio
8) finding a new beer which I really, truly love
9) clean sheets on the bed right after a long, hot bath
10) a long, hot bath
11) sandalwood, patchouli and peppermint scented anything
12) my fantastic collection of sophisticated perfumes
13) getting jewelry as a gift because it is totally useless and makes me feel girly
14) when the sun comes through the clouds in actual streams
15) First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream
16) Angostura bitters
17) my beautiful and well-stocked bar
18) SIGG bottles
19) Nate's Aunt Sue's totally unhealthy fruit salad
20) my collection of collections
21) my Prius Betty Blue
22) peonies
23) Dark Chocolate truffles by Godiva (the ones dusted with cocoa powder)
24) my beautiful and oh-so-fucking-comfy bed
25) MAC lippie

How to Feel Twenty Years Younger

• Go to a concert with a girlfriend and gab like kids the whole way there, the whole way back and everytime the music is not blaring.
• Be a tad saucy, but still very sweet, with the bartenders when ordering drinks. They'll like your attitude--and maybe your cleavage--and serve you faster next time.
• Enjoy and dance a little during the opening band, even if you haven't heard of them before, and vow to find their stuff online when you get home.
• Let a guy old enough to be your dad buy "a pretty young lady" (you) a shot of whiskey.
  
• Squeal like a teenager when the lights go down and the band's "coming out" song comes on. Especially when it actually is a song you loved as a teen.
• Squeal like a "tween" when the band actually comes out.
• Bounce like a fool to every single song. (Until you're sweating like a freak and dripping on strangers, but don't give two shits, because you're having so much fucking fun.)
• About two-thirds of the way through the show, yell, "I'm going in!" And bounce into the throng of sweating, shoving, bouncing overgrown frat boys up front. (Even if you have to come back out one song later because there is no oxygen up there... Revel a bit when a couple of young, cute guys give you attaboys on the way out.)
• During the first encore say, "Fuck it." And throw yourself back up front.
• Laugh, but still feel flattered, when you are offered a hand up so you can crowd surf during the second encore.
• Hang out up front after the show to get a set list. And actually get one before the other young cuties get theirs.

Good times.

The Blob in the Cozy Cave

Some mornings I wake up in the most lusciously comfortable position in my cloud of bedding on the gorgeous island of my bed and can't force myself to move, much less leave the bed.
This morning was like that. No pain, no kinks, perfect temperature, all of my limbs and parts had melted into one wonderful oozy blob of happy.
So I laid and thought for almost an hour. It was delicious.
And this is one of the days which makes me thankful for unemployment.

Cozy Cave Confession

I am not a person who always needs complete darkness to sleep, but I do employ several sleep masks for bad sleeping nights. I like the coziness of the blackout darkness when I sleep.
We also keep the heat very low during the night, about 60°. So sometimes I toss on a zip-up hoodie if my pajamas are not warm enough. On these nights, I will pull up the hood, snuggle down under the blankets and pillows and pull the drawstrings tight on my hood so only my mouth and nose stick out. I'm like Kenny-from-South-Park in reverse. Instant blackout mask! And, for some reason, I think there is something luscious about breathing the lovely cold air while the rest of my body is toasty warm and floating on the cloud of bedding and mattress.