Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come. - Matt Groening

whoever matt groening is, he sounds like he really enjoys love.

so i've been eating warheads. i'm on my 5th and consequently have burned a hole right through my tongue. i was warned: "eating multiple pieces within a short time period may cause a temporary irritation to sensitive tongues and mouths." sucking on warheads and eroding my tongue into nothingness brought to mind our summer in kansas when we went to girl's camp in minnesota. where we spent our time eating warheads. so i hunted up and scanned this wonderful picture of sarah taken right after taking a lemon warhead. enjoy.

yesterday morning i awoke on my own without aid of whining cats or blaring alarm clock. and yet it was 7:30. not fair.

after scripture study and morning pages done in the prostrate position on the couch, occasionally gaping up at the sky, i got ready for a run on the dike. this is when i became aware of an important and yet missing piece of my running ensemble. after futile digging about in my room i had an epiphany. it was in the trunk of my car. so...i wasn't about to go down, get it, and then come back up and change into it. no no no. i just shimmied into it while driving. takes talent, but i have loads of that. it's just not something i can put on my resume.

it was cold at the dike and indeed cold everywhere in the greater vancouver area, with the exception of the indoor parts of said city. i chose to wear capris yoga pants and a short sleeved shirt. i don't know why, it's just what i did and i had to live with it. the metal on my watch made my left hand even colder and my ipod clipped onto my left sleeve completed the job of higher refrigeration on my left most limbs.

but i didn't tell you about the herrings (read herons). when i got out of the car i could count without aid of binocs, 17-20 herrings all congregated together in the marshy reeds at the edge of the river. it was cool.

so i saw lots of birds and stuff on my walk-run but what took me the most by surprise was definitely the coyote. that's right. there was a coyote! it was not very far away from me either. it was savaging the marshy field for food and didn't seem to pay any attention to any of the people or pets on the walk way, but i did warn a couple with a small wiener dog. a wiener dog would be no match for a coyote. he's be a wiener is what he'd be. so me and the coyote had something in common. my hair and it's fur blended perfectly into the winter dead grass, dead leaves foliage and bleached blond logs. he was hard to see sometimes because of it, just as my hair would be if it was on it's own in that field. if a picture of me was taken with that field as a background, some might wonder if i was bald, so unable would they be to differentiate my hair from the winter time dead foliage. i'm not saying this is good or bad (it's not the best) but i'm just saying that it is (i've come to accept this fate. in the resurrection either my hair will be brighter or the foliage will be).

so i watched my coyote for as far as i could but we were going in opposite directions. but it wasn't long after that that i reached half way point and tuned around. a cute little chinese man that i had just passed was now stretching using a bench. he smiled and crossed his arms in front of him rubbing his arms. "cold!" he said smiling at me. "no. i'm alright." i said. it was true. i had warmed up. but that's what happens to a person like me when exercising . i get warm. weird hey?

my coyote was still there and i watched him as long as i could going back. i told a lady i passed about him and she cut me off "ya i see him." she said peering seriously out over the marshy grasslands. ooookay, i thought with a smile as i went on. stop telling people things they already know! haha.

when i got back to the car, i got out my camera and took some shots of the herons. there weren't as many there anymore but still quite a few. once in a while one would wing off to the shallow waters, but i tried not to take it personally. totally warm now, i sat on the grass and took shots and wished my sooper lens was compatible to my camera, or in other words that i had the adapter. as it was i had to make do with my normal old zoom lens.

they look so private. even more so in a group than when found by themselves. in a group they seem to be saying to me, "stop staring and get lost".
click on the pic above and see how many herrings you can count. do it!


a random plane shot just because it was there.

caught a deserter in flight. i don't think he left because of me. i think it was just time for him to move on, you know?
so then this immature eagle flew by and i took some shots of it.
i like this one. i think it turned out kind of cool.
he landed across the road where another immature had been hiding and so i went across the road and sat in the grass there for a while to take a few shots. he eventually threw me a scrap of a bone and spread his wings and hopped up to a higher branch, causing his buddy to spread his wings too.
and there they are.
eventually the cold began to seep back in and besides it was time to go home and get ready for my fatima date.