Esprit de L'Escalier

What do YOU think?

Did Natasha have baby rats or adult mice?

Jean, her lovely roommate, votes baby rats. I concur.

BTW, they have been removed from their apartment. Natasha is still not very pleased with the situation. I can't say I blame her.

Good weather for ducks

There is this house that I pass on my way to my internship. It's nearing where I work, where the country turns suburban. It's an old house - all stone, simply and well made. It sits on a small hill that runs down to a creek. I feel a little bad for it, though, because two well trafficked roads cut right in front and to its side. It didn't get razed, though, so it has that going for it.

It also has something else going for it, though. Ducks. About five white ducks and five or six mallards. They have a little hutch and easy access to the creek through a white farm fence. They have been missing for the winter, but returned recently.

The first time I saw them last week, I was so happy. And so were they. I was stopped at the light at the intersection and watched them squabble and chase each other, like a pack of third graders at recess. They have been loving the rain we've been having lately. They are covered and mud and running around with the joy. I love them. I'd like to take their photos, but there is no place to stop or even slow down. Instead, please enjoy this song by Lemon Jelly.

A Sunday visitor

Look who hung out just outside the house on Sunday. First he was on the railing of our back porch and then was in a nearby tree for about 20 minutes. Needless to say we made sure the cat was inside.

I hope those of you affected by the ice storm that tore through the midwest are safe and warm. We just have cold fog and rain here.

Polaroids from The Zoo

Here are a few polaroids I took from the San Diego Zoo. Have a nice weekend!

Flowers for mum

I went home this weekend. Hung out with my friend, Amanda. We had a play date for our parents, which went over very well. We've been meaning to do this since we were 17. Better late than never. I brought my old SX-70 home with me, hence my polaroids, though I was having issues with overexposure. Amanda and I went on a hike at Dawes Arboretum, so I got some nature into my trip. Dad built Mom a fire pit. Next time I'm home we'll have a fire. Pictures will come later are uploaded here.

Birds on the L and other news

My L stop is not what I would call the nicest in the city of Chicago. It's certainly not the worst or scariest (I think that distinction belongs to the Wilson Red Line stop), but when it rains, there is a torrent of water that rushes through the building. Entirely through the building, making the CTA employees cordon off half of the entrance because of the rushing water. And what makes me happiest is at the top of the stairs on the platform where the water drips and falls over and through the light fixture. While it's lit. So now I can add electrocution to my list of possible deaths. But that's not what I meant to talk about, it's just been a pet peeve or at least a source of bewildered amusement for me lately.

This morning, as I reached the top of the stairs to the platform, I saw a man sitting on the bench. The man had something in his hands, pressed near his face, and he was cooing. He had a cockateel in his hands and was whispering sweet nothings to it. I didn't see a cage any where near him, so I thought I would move farther down the platform (I try not to engage with crazies on the CTA if I can avoid it). Then he let the bird hop around his shoulders. I made sure not to get in the same car, because the commute is long enough without a bird flying around my head.

This wasn't the first time I have seen birds on public transportation. About a month or so ago, my roommate and I boarded the Broadway bus to sit next to a young man with a cage with two freaked out parakeets. I asked if I could take a picture of them with my phone, because at that point I didn't think I'd see pet birds on the CTA again. They weren't his, he was doing his friend a favor because her apartment was being fumigated. Everyone who got on made comments about them, because they were hopping about and squawking. I started answering for him, because I thought it was funny and he was clearly embarassed. Public transportation is rarely boring if you keep your eyes and ears open.

In other news, I heard wonderful news from my friend Stacey the other day. She got a job offer in San Francisco and is moving there in a couple of weeks! This is really exciting, because she's been struggling with not loving where she had been living, out in southeastern Washington. I'm excited because suddenly I have three friends to visit there, which means I will be planning a trip very soon. Congrats Stacey!!

UPDATE: It's also been about a year since New York Hack started her blog about driving a cab in NYC. I love reading about her experiences, it's really fascinating. She also has a book coming out, which I can't wait to read.

ALSO: Briana is back from her blog break. YAY!

Talking flowers

Roses3
Originally uploaded by clairehelene7.

My snap dragons are amusing me. I like to pinch their petals together at the base so that their mouths open up, talking to me. I think they would scold me, with their haughty heads. I don't have my camera today, but here is a rose from Portland that looks like it also could have been plucked from the gardens of Wonderland.

However, there was the hill full in sight, so there was nothing to be done but start again. This time she came upon a large flower-bed, with a border of daisies, and a willow-tree growing in the middle.

`O Tiger-lily,' said Alice, addressing herself to one that was waving gracefully about in the wind, `I wish you could talk!'

`We can talk,' said the Tiger-lily: `when there's anybody worth talking to."

Alice was so astonished that she could not speak for a minute: it quite seemed to take her breath away. At length, as the Tiger-lily only went on waving about, she spoke again, in a timid voice -- almost in a whisper. `And can all the flowers talk?'

`As well as you can,' said the Tiger-lily. `And a great deal louder.'

Weirdo squirrel

I just had an odd squirrel encounter. I was walking home from the L, chatting to Miss Stacey on the phone as I approached a tree with a squirrel sitting by its base. No biggie, I looked at it and expected it to jump to the tree as I approached. No. Instead it just looked at me. I peeked over my shoulder as I was walking past and I noticed it walk towards me. There it was, hopping along behind me, still looking at me with its unfathomable black eyes. I stopped, incredulous. It stopped. It looked at me and did the equivalent of blinking. Then it hopped towards me again. Now, I'm generally not afraid of squirrels. My family was always pro-squirrel (that is until my parents moved to their current house where they wage an ever-present war against the fauna that surround them); we took in two baby squirrel orphans when I was a kid. (Binky II and Binky III-- the first Binky belonged to a hippie with whom my mom went to college.) But this behavior was off. Did I have a squirrel stalker? Or was this seemingly benign looking rodent waiting for a moment to attack? Before I could figure out what was going on a woman came up, walking her dog. She too had seen the weirdo squirrel following me. Her dog chased it up the tree.