February 16, 2024
Happy Friday.
Heavily bundled, I slurped down a second cup of coffee, hoping it would keep me warm while on the water. Yesterday, I fished the Buckhorn Reservoir, and this morning, I returned to sit on the same pier with my camera. The morning was calm, and although the sunrise was not overly colorful, the sight of the striated clouds reflecting in the still water made the trip worth it. Hundreds of seagulls circled the area, some far off on the horizon. I shot a series of photographs of two seagulls fighting mid-air. The first bird caught a small fish while the second tried to steal it away. It looked more like a prank than a robbery.
After half an hour, the wind picked up, creating odd ripples in the water. They didn’t look like waves moving toward the shore, but resembled a tub of water that was pressed against something vibrating. It reminded me of a giant foot soaker. Staring at the pattern in the water created a feeling of visual vertigo, as my eyes strained to focus on the shimmering liquid. The waterfowl action was slow this morning, but that’s the way photography goes. Some days, the conditions all come together, but most days they do not.
Work started off busy, but slowed in the afternoon. My wife, who I had not seen in two weeks, arrived and talked me into taking off work a couple of hours early. It was good to see her, but she was tired from her trip and a long week of working and studying. Yesterday, a surgery ran almost eight hours longer than expected, so she was happy to be home and ready to relax. After work, we ran to the Piggly Wiggly and purchased food for the evening.
Since we were apart during Valentines, I was excited to give my wife a small gift. For several reasons, we don’t really celebrate a lot of holidays. But this year, I was happy to present her with a surprise set of earrings she contemplated buying. She was surprised, and I felt happy to see this person I care about, who never asks for anything, have a little bling-bling she can enjoy.
The night was full of splendid memories. I split wood while she started a fire in the pit and put on music. Then, we drank a few beers while catching up on our adventures. During the night, the beer turned into whiskey as we transformed a tired end of the week into a full out two-person, four-dog party.
At some point, I started up a familiar game by acting as the DJ and scrubbing Apple Music for odd genres and songs to test my wife’s freakish ability to remember lyrics. Every time I thought I had her stumped, she’d launch into the song with all the confidence and finesse of a seasoned cruise ship singer. We would break out into hysterical laughter before I skipped to the next song. We were both happy to be back together. It was the best night and rowdiest party we had in a while.
Because we wake up early, we usually go to bed by 9 PM, but this evening, our little party lasted until 11:30 PM. Look out. Before we went inside the house, my wife asked me to show her the reflective spiders I recently discovered. I grabbed my headlamp; we slipped on our boots and headed off into the night. We discovered that only the person wearing the headlamp could see the show. I passed her the light and helped adjust it to her tiny head. It was magical. The sparkling spiders that filled the forest floor mesmerized her. They have a reflective coating in their eyes to help them see at night. When you shine a bright light on them, their eyes glowed so bright you could spot them from thirty feet away. She told me it was the coolest thing she had ever seen. I think her shining eyes are way cooler.
We washed up and fell asleep promptly. Life, for a few days, would be back to normal, which for us, meant perfect happiness.