eye begin - chris, emily and zeph

they all converge at once, it seems. one minute, a relative quiet, broken only by the sounds of traffic and the next minute, the air is full of twittering and chirping. there, a family of cardinals. the song of the carolina wren is punctuated by an irritated chattering from another bird nearby, though i cant make out the source of the grumbling. on the cedar, i spot a pair of woodpeckers that i have not seen before - not the pileated ones, but mid-sized and gray, excepting the red head. a mockingbird swoops down to chase a cardinal away from the big tree stump thats nearly covered with lantana and a blue jay heads across the street to land on a branch, so big it makes that branch bob up and down.

i grab my camera, and since photos are no good through a screen, slip out the porch door and onto the steps. quite without my noticing, the birds are gone. the chirping and twittering has shifted and now appears to be coming from the back of the house. i sit for awhile, and then resigned, head back inside.

the eyes have it

as it turned out, my evening was very different from what i had planned. i still went to the auction, though i left before they even got to the furniture. i drove to the new wine store in town and decided not to go in afterall. too small, and too many employees there. i dont like to be bothered when choosing a wine. in fact, i dont like to be bothered when choosing anything at all. the new pizza shop was very crowded and i made up my mind instead to just get my groceries and head home.

i spent the night watching a typical 80's movie with kurt russell that had been reccomended to me and eating a sub sandwich from publix. its one of those movies that, had i seen in childhood, i might have really loved and therefore overlooked its inherent cheesiness. the movie was called 'big trouble in little china' and is pretty much a forerunner to mystical chinese movies like 'crouching tiger, hidden dragon' (without the good storyline). a sorceror needs to marry a girl with green eyes to become mortal again and rule forever. not sure how he could do that, being mortal and all. there was kung fo fighting, yes, and lots of blue and green light that depicted magic. and lots of going on and on about the girl with the green eyes...

speaking of eye color, i thought about making a family tree with eye color listed next to individuals. im curious about it. for instance, my father has eyes that i usually think of as aqua colored, various shades of blue, and reminding me of water. my mother, having some native american blood within her veins, is a deep brown color. three of the five of their children have light colored eyes, while two inherited the dark chocolate color from my mothers side. i wont say their eyes are exactly alike, but its hard to detect subtlies in such a rich color. one sisters appears nearly black, while the other makes me think of chocolate; both are exotic. out of the three light eyes, there is my older sister with eyes that are predominantly gray. some might say blue, and of course they would be right in some respects. but for the most part, her eyes are steely - sometimes so light in color, parts of her iris appear to be white. beautiful, really. my brother also received light-colored eyes and his are probably the closest to my father's color. shifting and changing, of course, but with lots of flecks of gold. my own eyes are considered green by most.

i did some research. perception of the color of an eye may change due to the amount of light and surrounding colors, which explains why some will have different opinions of what a certain eye color is. also, what i learned in science class about genetics does not apparently always hold true - the rule of brown as the dominant color and blue as the recessive is not always followed. another interesting fact is that eye color usually stablizes around 6 months of age. my neice, then, may keep those lovely mossy green eyes. which in some ways, may prove the former point, seeing that both of her parents have brown eyes.

this brings me to another point i was wrong on for a long time. hazel does not mean blue-green eyes. hazel mostly signifies a reddish undertone (thus, the red-brown color of hazel in 'watership down'), though it appears that there is a reason for this misconception, since some scientists have used hazel to describe blue/gray colors.

so back to that family tree again - siblings, in-laws and nephews/neice, please take a photo of your eyes and forward to me. ill start. tell me, whats your perception?

im out of breath at the moment and bear is taking a break to investigate the big box in the dining room. bear is the only cat i know (well, except for debs cat, fuzz) that will play hide and seek. ill spare you the details, but its a lot of fun and can be slightly scary; imagine those green eyes, pupils widened, staring at you hungrily right before the charge.

bear has been sick the last few weeks with a urinary problem. im sure he doesnt want everyone to know about it, so please dont spread it around. he had to be taken to the emergency vet and was given antibiotics. since then, he has gotten progressively better, or so i thought until these last few days. i have been on litterbox patrol since ive been back, following bear to the box to listen or check it once hes left to see how much or if hes going. i dont want to give the cat a complex, so sometimes i wait a minute or two. maybe hes been going there more often just to see what i find so fascinating about it.

they say stress can cause this issue in cats and there is the upcoming move.. but i dont think things have been crazier than usual around here. however, i do want him to get better and so to combat any possible stress he might be feeling, ive been playing with him and petting him a lot more. yesterday and today he completely zonked out on my lap, giving me an excuse to take a little nap myself.

i imagine all the endorphins flooding his little body as im giving him a good belly rub or a long scratch under the chin.

mmmm, endorphins.

two cute cats enjoying the sunshine on a cold day.

yard sales in florida are a curious thing. they usually start early in the morning because there are those who are up and about specifically looking to be the first one there. inevitably, a van full of seniors will arrive while you are setting up. there are old ladies who, normally sweet in personality, will talk you down from a quarter to a dime. there are old guys always looking for guns, knives or fishing rods.

yard sales have the tendency to make me question myself; i look at my items for sale and wonder why no one else seems to need them like i once did. doesnt anyone have a small rodent they need a cage for? (actually, rodent or not, someone did eventually get that small cage) whats so wrong about the price im asking for those collectors mugs? and dont even ask about the clothes i had for sale. even at 50 cents each, i didnt sell much.

in a way, its sad to watch. in other ways, its uplifting to be free of so much stuff that you dont have a place or use for.

yard sales also end up being a time for acquistions. usually, others throw in their few items to sell and of course, i always examine these items to see if perhaps its something i had been looking for. because of one such purchase like this, i ended up with negative sales for the day. the next day, however, i was happy to make a little over 8 dollars, even with one more purchase. i also use yard sales as a way to look through dan's garage, which is full of so much stuff, im sure i could almost build a house and have all the supplies i need from his shelves alone. this time, i made an off-hand comment that i was looking to get a toolbox. within ten minutes, i had three such toolboxes shown to me, and 30 seconds more, i had approved of the final selection. along with such box, i was allowed a few tools to add to my collection. a rasp, a hacksaw blade (for which i had no saw) and a swiss army knife. there will be plenty of room for the small amount of tools i currently own, essentials like a hammer and nails, screwdrivers, pliers and other odd and ends.

yard sales. this was my last one.

'we never had it right'

i am always so desperate to get back home.

i always wonder what it is about that place; why i feel heartache at the sight of it, why i cant seem to drive home without a small sort of breakdown in my car. i think i know the reasons behind these things, but i cant bring myself to analyze it too closely.