I woke up early this morning and drove to Southlake Park in Farmersville. Southlake is a small town lake with lily pads surrounded by open fields and a few trees. When I arrived a least term flew over the lake. I began to walk to my right. I saw a young teenager, crying. I turned to give the teen privacy.
A man walked up, said 'how are you doing?', to which I said "well, and you?".
"I can't complain", he assured me. Then as we passed, he said "did you see that girl standing there?". I told him "around the corner".
I began to watch an eastern kingbird. I heard the father and daughter talking. At first, I thought the father spent his time shouting.Then words drifted by that he acted because he cared. Soon he and his daughter started joking with one another. When last I saw them, they spent their time getting bicycles out of their vehicle. Like all similar brushes with others, I never learned the true context of the tears, the raised voices, or the laughs. Even my retelling probably suffers from over-eager inference.
I began to walk around the lake. I saw a small snake in the water by the little pier.
This northern cardinal defined its context conclusively:
I kept walking,until I reached the other side of the small lake. A man fished in an inflatable boat. We never interacted. I heard a musical trill,and looked at a bare tree. A painted bunting perched on it. I love painted buntings. I saw either one three times, or three one time each. My photographs of the bunting(s) proved hazy.
I also saw a few of the dickcissel,a lovely prairie bird:
Then I drove into Farmersville,to go walking on the Chapparal Trail, a hike/bike rail trail. I saw lots of western kingbirds at the Audie Murphy trailhead by the old onion shed:
An animal rescue group met by the trailhead. The dogs on display, all on leashes, impressed me--lab mixes and chihuahua mixes, all very handsome.
The chihuahua theme continued as I walked the trail. One front yard featured a young chihuahua with a mildly upset stomach. That same yard contained a northern mockingbird singing on a tree:
A man and a woman my age rode by on bicycles. Later they passed me,going the other way. During my walk, I saw lots of birds, but the firewheels and showy evening primrose caught my eye.
I wanted to drive to Mallard Park, by Lake Lavon, but one gate proved locked and the other I passed inadvertently. I took a turn to go to Lavon Dam Road.I planned to go to East Fork Park. I found myself in the middle of the Wild Ralley, a mass bicycle ride to fight cancer. "Mass" in this context mean a stream of pedaling, moderately spaced stragglers rather than a scrum of densely-packed racers. I kept a respectful space between my vehicle and the bicyclist nearest me until I turned off. I saw a green heron at a little turn-in part of the park.
I began to drive home. I listened to a soccer game over something called the FA Cup. I rooted for Hull without knowing anything about it. On principle,I think Hull deserves the support of unfamiliar strangers. I hoped for Hull to upset Arsenal, but Arsenal beat Hull.
I pulled into an International House of Pancakes. People sat in its lobby. I turned on my heel, foregoing pancake dreams. I went to Tian An Mien Wok. I ate and enjoyed chicken with broccoli. I stopped in Radio Shack but bought nothing.
At home, we met with a woman who earns a living boxing people's things before construction. She surveyed our house for her estimate. My wife went shopping.
I watched television and (too low) on some things on eBay. I took a nice warm afternoon bath. I ceased watching "Game of Thrones" last year, but I watched part of one episode people discuss a lot on the internet. I found its bally-hooed final section watchable.
I got sandwiches at Whichwhich for our dinner. We ate on our tiny patio in our lawn furniture and talked. A lovely cardinal walked on the fence and in our yard as we watched.
Then we settled in to watch "Modern Family".