December 2, 1996
I wrote in my notebook for nearly two hours this morning - about nothing. I had just given up on the writing and picked up Wild America to read when Tom walked in, so I ordered another coffee and chatted with him about the weekend, the writing, the travels (lack of plan for). I managed not to get a ticket although the meter was expired when I got back to the car. I had lunch at King's Subs and picked up my Thanksgiving photos at CVS then headed on home.
I'd figured it was going to rain all day so I didn't plan any field trips. Wrong. The rain stopped, the sky cleared, and the temperature dropped at least 10 degrees and is still dropping. The wind is still blowing like crazy. Too late now to plan a birding excursion as there's not much light left. By the time I'd get to Plum Island it'd be sunset. I'll have to settle for the two crows doing ever more complex aerobatics over the parking lot. The pigeons sit on the cable wire all puffed up like softballs. Most unlike the crows.
I had this idea that I would keep a daily bird diary - just the birds that I see in my day to day existence, while doing errands, writing, taking the trash out, driving the nieces to/from wherever... Add it to the list of projects I've thought of and haven't done or the list of projects I've started and haven't finished. I generate ideas 10 times faster than I can even write 'em down let alone do 'em. If I did everything on my list, my creative output would rival Stephen King (in quantity only - far different creative sensibility).
Later:The temperature kept dropping all afternoon. By the time I met Joan and Claire to go walking tonight I was glad to have gloves and earmuffs. The puddles hadn't frozen yet but I got kinda worried. We walked for about an hour. It felt really good to be outside and moving.
After our walk I went to Marketbasket for a few items. The cashier spoke very little English and conversed with the bag boy entirely in Spanish. Not that we needed to communicate beyond the $ total and paper or plastic. Some days I do get a bit unsettled by my lack of Spanish and I vow to take the next community college class that comes along. Then I think gee whiz if I go back to high-tech I'll need to learn Japanese and I picture myself in my "ingles perdido" state searching for the right language... Too bad my grammar school and high school only offered French (which I took for 12 years and could speak pretty well once but now can only read due to lack of practice). Who knew none of us would need French but we would desperately need Spanish? Time to get out the Berlitz tapes. And while I'm at it, I need to learn "please don't park here" in Russian.
When I came out of the store a plainclothes cop was arresting a man in the parking lot. As I left, a backup cruiser with its lights flashing screamed into the parking lot at full tilt. Who knows what goes on in that parking lot. It used to be the center of a car theft ring but that supposedly was broken.
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