Mirrors

The sun did in fact come up yesterday, as you can see above. We have a lake behind our family house, and it served as the perfect sky-mirror.

Yesterday was pretty much just a day of settling in. I went for a walk with my mom. I helped her take down the spider webs that in Florida appear almost daily around the upper reaches of everyone's ceiling, hustling as many of the tiny spiders outside as possible. Spider liberation day!

We went to Publix, the biggest, cleanest, classiest grocery store on the entire planet. Their slogan used to be -- and maybe still is -- "where shopping is a pleasure." And it's really true. I'm not normally a fan of grocery shopping, but I think if I lived near a Publix I would go uncomplainingly every day. Mom picked up her pre-ordered fresh turkey and we got pie ingredients so Dave can make pies. (Dave is not happy without some kitchen duties.)

When we got home I walked up to the highway and came across these sandhill cranes, traveling in a pair as usual and mirroring each other almost as perfectly as the lake mirrored the sunrise. They're big, gawky, slow-moving birds that tend to stand hair-raisingly close to roadways, houses, you name it. They mate for life, and sometimes you just see one flying around by itself, looking sort of lonely.

These two looked happy enough, but they were standing a little too close to U.S. 41 for their own good. I saw them flying away a few minutes later, though, so they made it out OK.

The goal of my walk was an antiques and bric-a-brac store that recently opened near our neighborhood. I checked it out, and I wanted to buy something just to help the place out, but I didn't even find anything worth a charity purchase. Certainly nothing worth hauling back to London.

As I got home, Mom's cat watched me suspiciously from the roof. She has two cats, and they're sort of wild. They don't like any of the rest of us. I'm not sure they even like Mom.

Finally, last night, my brother and his family arrived and I wrapped presents. It took a ridiculously long time for as few gifts as I have to give. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong! Anyway, it's nice to have that finished now. I'm ready, Christmas. Sock it to me.