Frog and Goat

It seems the owl I saw about a month ago while staining the porch stairs has decided to make our woods its home. We haven’t actually seen the owl prey on anything yet, but the same birds that whine when a fox is nearby let us know that the owl is around.

The owl moves through the under story so quietly and gracefully that if it weren’t for the whiny birds, we’d probably never know the owl was there. The whiny birds whine and the owl just sits on a tree branch until it feels like moving. I find it interesting that the owl typically picks the branches of the smaller trees in our woods. Even though it is the under story, some of our larger trees have lower branches but the owl doesn’t seem to care for those.

Having the owl around makes me think of a short story I read many years ago about a cat-eating owl. The owl perched on a window sill and plucked out kittens from inside a house. I have no memory of what else this story was about or who wrote it. I suspect it was from the now defunct Story magazine.

I went by Kohl’s yesterday in search of some shoes that I could wear with capris, jeans and khakis this summer. I have a pair of birkenstock sandals but those aren’t exactly office-ready. Say what you will about those of us who wear birkenstocks and I’ll point to my feet and say “look how happy they are”. And, as someone who has suffered through plantar fasciitis, I’ll wear whatever shoe I need to so that my feet don’t hurt. Because there is nothing worse on this planet then waking up and hoping that the three seconds you spend stretching your foot muscles out will be enough because you really have to go to the bathroom and stepping out of bed and into the bathroom should not be akin to walking on red-hot molten lava.

Kohl’s had nothing but open-toed shoes and since I’m not one for pedicures, I don’t take to wearing open-toed shoes at work.

I decided to go to Payless and see what they had. I ended up with two pairs of shoes and I don’t really expect them to last for longer than the summer but at a ridiculously low price I don’t mind. The shoes I’m wearing today are technically mules but they have little cut-outs on the sides so it sort of looks summery. And, I can take my shoes off under my desk and no one is the wiser.

Continue reading →

In the most recent Smithsonian there is a photograph of a field in Bath, England. The unique subject of the photograph is a field of fluorescent tubes sunk into the ground underneath a large power line. There is enough energy in the air to light the tubes. The photograph is stunning. Unfortunately, I can’t find it on their online edition.

I did find the site of the guy who created the field of tubes. He really should get a copy of that photograph and post it on his site.