FOG AND WAXWINGS

A gauze of diaphanous fog hangs over the cottage pool this morning, softening the light, blurring the edges of distant objects. In what might be a natural paradox, the illumination seems both muted and more luminous, a silvery incandescence, glowing quietly, making the familiar island twenty yards away seem deliciously mysterious. From the island's downstream end comes the quick loud yelps of a pileated woodpecker, sounding a bit on the frantically manic side.

Though the sun hasn't yet cleared the tops of the sycamores along the river's eastern banks, the cedar waxwings are already busy swooping and diving over the water, working the moist air like flycatchers. There must be a dozen of them taking turns at whatever insects are available. Such behavior on the part of the waxwings is always a sure indicator that summer is drawing to a close. Between flights, the sleek waxwings with their yellow-tipped tails—as if the very ends of the feathers had been recently dipped in a bucket of paint—rest on an outmost limb of a streamside hackberry, box elder, or sycamore—watching, waiting, until time for their next swift flight. 

A couple hours from now, I have to take Myladylove to the hospital for a bit of minor outpatient surgery. A short trip, since, as the crow flies, the hospital is no more 1500–2000 yards from here…across the stream, across a wide expanse of parkland, up a hill, and at the far side of a parking lot beyond. Close, yet except for a bit of distant tile rooftop we can just glimpse when the leaves are gone, you'd never guess such a facility was nearby. Of course we'll have to drive downstream to the bridge, then back up the highway on the other side; three minutes door-to-door.

The rest of the afternoon will be spent taking care of my recovering "patient." Which comes down to feeding her whatever she feels like eating, letting her sleep as much as she wants, and putting her in full charge of the TV remote. Moon-the-Dog will do her part, too…though I'll probably have to referee a disagreement or two between them over what programs to watch.

———————