Porch time
One of the great (and under-rated) things about America are porches. I am sat out on the porch as I write this blog post. The sun is out--it's meant to get up to 29° today, but at this moment it's a perfect 16°. I came out after I woke up, with my cup of tea, and my current book (Everything's Eventual, by Stephen King).
While I was sat out here, half reading and half looking at the trees, a little brown bird came and landed on the mailbox right next to me and gave me a beady-eyed look before flying off.
There is a lot of wildlife running around this suburb. Lizards--probably an invasive species, but still cute little things, dashing about on the steps and footpaths in zig-zaggy movements. Birds, of course. Deer. The deer are very tame. Yesterday we had a pair of deer hanging out in the side-yard, just having a sit down in the shade, and late in the day one came and poked her nose around the side of the porch to take a look at me.
And bugs. I've been bitten by a lot of bugs. I remember, as a kid in the UK, summers were full of bug bites and the car windscreens would get splattered on long drives. Not so much, these days.
Bugs, of course, are near the bottom of the food chain. Without bugs--who are reliant on plants, hence the conservationists cry of 'protect the habitats!'--the whole damn pyramid collapses. I try and remember that, when I'm trying very hard not to scratch the bites on my legs.