That happened yesterday. I was running around the office, getting ready for our operations meeting in which all the Big Wigs participate. It's our CEO, all of the Directors, EVPs - the big kids.
I don't directly participate in the meeting, but I feel like I'm the hostess. I order lunch for everyone and I go out, pick it up, set it out, make sure everyone has what they might want. Beforehand, I make sure the fridge in the conference room is stocked. That the room is neat and orderly. That the bathroom is presentable and so on. So I'm running around and I look up and... this was what I saw outside my office window:
Now I have to say that beats the heck out of the dead five-foot gopher snake that's lying along the sidewalk across the street (not pictured here). I heard about that from one of our IT guys who was down here on Thursday helping me beat my new workstation into submission.
He said he was walking back from lunch on this side of the street the other day, and one of our co-workers was walking up the other side of the street. They waved, called hello, and then, according to the story, "Jane" shrieked, leapt about five feet into the air and landed two or so feet behind where she'd been. Of course, being a gentleman, he raced to her rescue and discovered the dead snake.
Honestly? I feel sorrier for the snake than I do for Jane but that's because Jane walked away from the encounter but the snake didn't.
I like snakes. I don't think there's anything significantly scary about them, and it's the fault of people that he's lying where he is in his current condition.
See, there's construction along the backside of the vacant lot. He's lying along the front side of the vacant lot. I suspect that he was injured by the construction activities and crawled over to where he is now before giving up the ghost so he could scare the crap out of Jane. That, however, was not his desire, I'm sure. It just was.
Honestly, I don't know that the critter is really five-feet. That could be a fisherman's tale, the big one that got away. For all I know, it's a baby - six-inches or so but I'm not interested enough to walk over and check so enough about the dead snake and back to how lucky I am.
Every morning when I drive to work I just drink in the beauty along my road. It's two lane and winding - like this, only not because this is my drive home:
The next picture is, however, on my drive to work - but this is not what it normally is for me because this was taken by Google Earth and one of its Magical Mobiles. Given the angle of the sun and so on, this was taken around midday when the light is harsh and washes everything of its color:
In the morning, that valley usually has varying degrees of fog - sometimes hanging around the ridges like floating tulle, sometimes blanketing the bottom like cotton wool. Then, the hills are washed with shadows of receding night and the warm glow of early morning.
Before the above, though, is something to which I look forward every day. It's the stroke of light across the leaves on the trees here:
The juxtaposition of shadow and light earlier in the day makes it better than it looks. Again, because this was taken around midday, it's harsh and washed out. In the morning, with the sun lower in the sky, the difference in light and shadow is marked. The leaves appear to glow white with green trim. It's something of which I never tire, and something that changes with every day.
Yes, I am lucky and I know it, although the occasional reminder is nice, too.
I hope you have a lovely day, too, and that you'll stop and appreciate the beauty of where you live.
Best~
Philippa
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