Hanging in there

Looking up

One thing about not having steps up to our apartment front door (that's it behind the watering can) and having to walk in an alley to the steps up to our back door is that I can see my front porch flowers from a new vantage point: looking up at them. In some ways they look prettier, since the sunshine means they are growing extremely well in ways I can't see from the front. The white petunias were a surprise, since I cannot see them in all their abundance from the front. The geraniums are sure doing well, looking good from both sides.

We had what, for me, was a very hot day yesterday. It got up to 84°F and was very warm inside our apartment. But fortunately for us, the temperatures today have fallen by at least ten degrees. It is, of course, summertime and most people expect warm weather. But since I'm not a fan of too much heat, I am thrilled by the current early afternoon temperature of 69°F. And I don't see any heat domes in our immediate future.

It's bird fledging time, and I've been watching some immature crows learning how to fly. You can always tell the babies, even though they're the same size as their parent, since they flap their wings helplessly and beg for food, even when they can manage it themselves. They are a little bit smaller with shinier wings, and they don't always make very graceful takeoffs and landings quite yet. I smiled at one youngster who I think had not been out of the nest for long, waddling to the edge of a roof and peering over the edge. I could almost hear him saying, "it's a long way down there!" Instead of taking off, he backed away and ran to Mummy for some courage. Since I was walking to the bus, I never saw whether he made the leap.

I envy them for their ability to fly. Learning how to navigate a canopy when I was a skydiver was not something that came naturally to me. Eventually I got the hang of it, but it was never the reason I jumped out of airplanes. I loved the freefall and deploying my canopy and landing it properly was a necessary part of the experience, if I wanted to do it again, at least. However, watching birds flying effortlessly brings back memories of my time under canopy. It's really fun to fly.

:-)