Summer's Coming

Ah, the birth of summer--veggies blackened on the barbie, strawberries and corn that taste like they're supposed to, and the dulcet tones of the Monster Truck rally wafting through the air, the soundtrack to many dinners on the back deck...

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hawk fight
Originally uploaded by suzipaw.

I saw the most amazing thing today: As I was in the backyard this afternoon, peering at the nest in the rosebush, I heard a hawk's call. Looking up, I saw not one, but two, and one was clutching a good-sized silvery snake. I could see that the other hawk wanted that snake snack. They drifted close together, almost lazy--there wasn't any fast maneuvering, though they covered a lot of sky and just a few hundred feet away from me. So I got a great view when the empty-taloned hawk suddenly moved in and grabbed the other end of the snake. It was an incredible sight, watching the two large birds floating in tandem in the blue sky, joined by the snake (what if it were still alive?!). I stared thunderstruck, wondering if I should keep watching, or run inside to get my camera and risk missing the aerial denouement. But I figured I'd already seen something pretty rare, why not take a chance and try to capture it? I sprinted inside, grabbed the camera, and ran back out, just in time to snap this shot of the hawks, separated, drifting away over the top of the house, snake still in the clutches of one hawk.


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In Other News:

I left early yesterday morning for Chico, meeting up with my mother and brother for a powwow with the caterer at the reception site. We got there a few minutes late, but unfortunately, the caterer never arrived. The gal who shows the reception spot is incredibly nice. As we waited, she made conversation, didn't seem put out or eager for us to leave. She also loaned me her cell phone so I could leave messages with the caterer, and was quite willing to come back later in the afternoon or even this morning if we were able to make a new appointment with the cater. This scenario unfortunately did not happen. The caterer never returned my call. I did confirm the meeting with her in writing, so I wonder what happened...

This meeting was the main reason for my trip to Chico, but we got quite a bit of other wedding biz done, as well as had a nice family visit. We met with the guy doing the bar set-up and hashed that out, not the least of which was my brother alerting me to the fact that according to the contract with the reception site, I have to hire a bartender. We took five different bottles of wine for testing, and polished a couple off last night while watching, appropriately enough, "Sideways."

While I was there, I also met with the woman who arranged for the officiant to conduct the ceremony. We went over the text, she made some suggestions and we chatted.

So, things are progressing.

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North of Calistoga

It was also a beautiful drive there and back. It's a wonderful year for wildflowers: purple and pale golden lupin, California poppies, mustard, purple sweet peas, several other pink and orange flowers I don't know the name of. There are also some spectacular specimens of oak on this route. I wish there were some way of properly paying homage to them all.

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I just heard on NPR that the latest job to be outsourced to India is lawyering. Great--that'll probably be in full swing just about the time M is graduating.

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I started a knitting project! I don't know what came over me. It's just a simple scarf, but one I'd been thinking about for a while. I think that's a good sign, don't you? That I'm not too harried to pick up knitting project. We'll see how long that feeling lasts.

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I ushered at our local Cultural Arts Center last Thursday. I've been too busy to fulfill my volunteering quota of three shows per month, but I really wanted to do this one--an appearance by David Sedaris. It was a sold-out show, and he was very good. I tried to read "Barrel Fever" months ago and couldn't get past the first story--I think some of his tales need to be read aloud by him. But I always enjoy the Q&A parts of the literary presentations in particular, and he seems like an interesting person, so it was fun.

Though I did oversleep the next day and miss my step class, though perhaps that's just as well, I'm still feeling a bit poorly. I should've set aside the knitting this afternoon and picked up the exercise tubing and/or walked the mutt, but knitting on the couch listening to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" and watering my garden barrels seemed more productive.

Ah, summer.