Of Birds and Other Things

This morning, as I was leaving for campus, I startled a pair of birds just outside my door. They were swallows or swifts of some sort, possibly tree swallows. At any rate, rather than fleeing, they circled, passing within a couple of feet of me on each loop. I stood and watched for a while before remembering that I was already a bit late for my bus. (I did manage to catch it.)

I was going to campus to talk to one of last semester's students about his performance on the final. I was prepared for unpleasantness - after all, I had flunked him - but he took my discussion of his mistakes calmly, thanked me, shook my hand, and left. I find that vaguely unsettling.

While waiting for the bus home, I saw a snowy egret fly overhead. There's a pond near the stop where I've seen egrets before, and also a blue heron and - I think - a muskrat. (Some sort of rodent, at any rate; all I saw was its head and the vee of its wake. I dunno; maybe it was just an ordinary rat.)

Today's been a good day all told, I'd say.

"Joan of Arcadia"

Well. There are four shows that I've been watching regularly this year, and three of them delivered good-to-excellent season finales. Ellen, you know the drill.
( Silence )