went bald eagle watching on the hudson today. seven full hours of hunting down eagles. i spotted several and totaled twelve for the day. not bad for my first venture out birding. we also saw a snowy owl, which everyone had their knickers in knots about. i didn't care either way. apparently they are only in new jersey this time of year. right now. so we ventured off our determined path and saw one who was willing to be gawked at and photoed from a relatively close vantage point. he was perched upon a few old pier pilings in the hudson about fifty feet off shore. very close indeed.
my people were supposed to go with me. you know, the whole native thing. bald eagles are practiacally a religious solemnity. but no, they both opted out and i went alone with a group of strangers. the story of my life. i said very little. i listened a lot. i wandered off when i could. tried to avoid the talkative types. tried to keep my eyes on the eagles and forget about how it was an experience i wanted to share with my people.
now i'm tired since i had to work after the day of birding. i went out today without a single sheet of paper or a pen. an odd feeling. caught in such a state. but i was focused on other things before i left. i had every intention of driving myself, but ended up the passenger of two lovely indian people, with a guy riding along beside me.
the two indians were so ying and yang, it was nice to see. a couple who actually enjoy being together. very well travelled. interesting. we listened to some belize music (i'm not sure the proper term for that), and my back seat riding partner and i caught a couple of the rhythms that alluded to eighties music. kind of wild. music really is a universal language.
i was watching the people in our group, raucous bunch that they were (not by a normal person's standard, but by mine), and two men had these little downturned mouths. i asked the driver, who seemed real well to do (and i don't mean that in a bad way, he was incredibly kind, generous. gracious). i asked him and the other guy,
do you think it takes muscles to frown? or is that just the way some people look?
the indian driver said,
did you know it takes twenty four muscles to frown, but only two to grab the person and bitch slap him.
i laughed. it was great. that was near the end of the day. i hadn't expected it. we were all sitting there in the car laughing.
the indian driver told me of a place in india which the dialect is this really long word that starts with an m.
i've never heard of that place before.
it is the only place with 100% leprosy.he said.
sounds like a great place to live.i said snickering in the back.
he goes on to tell me how the laborers have bachelor's degrees.
leprosy?i said.
literacy,he said.
we all laughed again.
if i wasn't all ready a half hour late, i could have thought of something interesting to say to them before i left, but i had to go.
fortunately i'll see his wife when we go eagle watching on the delaware.
peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment