THREE MORE BEAUTIFUL THINGS

I went out to lunch and parked under the eucalyptus trees near the resevoir. A very tall water bird - white, possibly an egret - was standing on a moss-covered rock. He looked like the living incarnation of good fortune. When the trains roared by on the neighboring track, he watched them go by, the breeze lifting his feathers.

A well-dressed lady in a late-model car pulled up next to me at the stoplight. She didn't notice me - she was singing to the music in her car, head thrown back, mouth open wide, fingers tapping out the beat on the steering wheel. Her windows were closed, so all I heard was the whoosh of the wind through the trees. She looked happy.

I got a fun email at work - one of the girls here has a pet snake, a pretty ball python, at her house. She photographed herself with the snake on her head and sent me the picture. I laugh every time I think of it.