DEADLINE DRACULA
Happy Sunday, folks! I hope all is groovy in your worlds. Sorry I’m a few days late posting, my book deadline is the 29th and I’m a flavor of batshit nuts that’s conscious but has a slightly metallic taste. In other words, it is rideable but then sometimes shows a shocking flash of crimson. I actually yelled at a random kid for running through my yard the other day. He did jump over my flowers rather than stomping them so I should have commended him instead? I mean, seriously!? Who yells at a kid for being a kid? Me, I guess… I think he just startled me coming around the corner. What have I become!? Hahaha! Seriously though, I look out the window constantly hoping to see him so I can run out and apologize which may scare him worse? Good grief!
Things are mostly good though, I’m on schedule. The humming birds have decided there can be two females using the feeders. Mostly it was the larger female, Big Jackie, who decided. Sweetheart Calico will try to flare at her and Jackie just ignores. Big Jackie does most of the fighting and defending. I’ve never seen this dynamic before. Usually it’s the male who is around and hypervigilant all the time. Nope. Big Jackie owns the yard. She is actually so large the hum of her wings is a slightly lower register. I can tell it’s her without looking. Sometimes she gets right up in my face so she can look at herself in my glasses. I’m terribly fond of her.Â
It’s still peak fly time and the horses are clenching for the die-off to begin. I am too. Big spider season has begun and they are here for the flies too. I salute them often. Thanks, ladies! The monarch babies are just starting to show their hungry selves here on the conservation farm. The jewelweed pods are bursting and the goldenrod is neon yellow, I smell autumn sometimes and I get that excitement deep down. It’s a satisfying pang. Back to school, but I don’t actually have to go. But you know, I wish I did?Â
What does that autumn smell do to you? Do you feel excitement? Possibility? Or just pressure and dread? Or do you feel nothing? I feel like this fall anticipation must be from an ancient feeling when the smell of seasonal change told us it was time to move along. If nothing else I can’t wait for sweater weather :)
My favorite incipient autumn moment is when I’m (unwillingly) out in the Georgia heat and a tiny ribbon of cool breeze wanders by.
Wow! You've got an amazing relationship with your hummers. They flit around so fast I can hardly tell. There do seem to be three of them, which I assumed was a dominant male, a female partner and a challenger male. It's rare that the challenger gets much time at the feeder before a high-speed dog fight ensues, but then, maybe I'm misinterpreting that behavior. I'm looking forward to learning more as this in my first summer in our central Vermont paradise.
Good luck with the book deadline. We can't wait to read it.
Also, isn't it strange that most of the country is sweltering, but I don't think it's once been over 90 here. Wet, yes. Hot, no.