Took some stuff in for dry cleaning t’other day–my beloved wool trenchcoat, my patchwork jacket, and since it really needed to be pressed, and I neither own nor am skilled with an iron, my old hakama. (Mind you, I still haven’t found an iaido dojo, but I keep the gear around, despite my periodic purges of the past, because earning my 5th kyu rank is perhaps the only purely physical thing I’ve ever done that I’m proud of, little enough as it may be.)
The dry cleaners did an excellent job with it, got the pleats all neat and everything, despite the fact that they had no idea whatsoever what it was. I know this because my receipt listed two overcoats and one “sleeveless dress.”
And while the feeder remains unvisited by anything but chickadees and the occasional titmouse, yesterday I finally saw a squirrel!
Yes, a squirrel. I know, glee is weird here, but it had been over a week with no squirrels. It was like a violation of the laws of nature. No birds, no squirrels…when did I wander into Silent Spring? But at last, one appeared. He shinnied up the pole holding the feeder, eyed it carefully, climbed on top, climbed head down to the bottom, put a paw on the flipper mechanism, and was promptly flung free. I gloated behind the blinds.
And now, back to work…
