Watch sports, gardening in & out, cleaning

F1

Empty dishwasher

Groom the boy

Vacuum non carpeted parts of the house

Soak and part clean the air fryer tray, etc

Clean kitchen

Refill & start the dishwasher

Water indoor plants

Liège Bastogne Liège

Quick grocery trip to Tesco

Liège Bastogne Liège

Empty dishwasher

Make kongs for the week

Watch a bit of FA cup semi final

Prepare the window baskets on the front for planting

Trim the fuchsia

Clear the vines from far end of the garden

Trim all the vines to transport to the bins in front

Play with the boy on the lawn in between

Clean 💩

Clean up the trimmings

Vacuum the carpeted parts of the house, including the bedroom

Feed the boy

Feed me

Watch an episode of House

In bed, listening to some easy, vocal heavy jazz. The boy is heavy, fast asleep next to me. The whisky is nearly over. Eyes are drooping.

Happy Sad

Saw the first wisteria bloom on the commute to office this week.

It brought me joy. I love them. I look forward to their bloom every year, even more than I do the spring bulbs and the autumnal leaf colours.

Then I realised the date. It made me sad. This bloom was early by a month. Wisteria don’t bloom till well into May.

Red kite hunting

While out on the walk this afternoon on the mount, I saw a red kite hovering ahead of me. I see them around often, and they usually fly away. Not today. This one was still there when I got to it, flying about 10m above me

I stood under it enjoying watching it stay in the spot in moderately heavy wind. It reminded me of kayaking in strong water, or balancing on a wobble board. The tail feathers were tightly clenched, but it’d occasionally unfurl them for a moment of additional stability. The wings were spread out, the (equivalent of) wing flaps doing most of the work of keeping it in place. Occasionally, it’d slightly fold or raise a wing to handle a particular gust. Like a kayaker tapping the water, or me spreading arms briefly on the wobble board to stabilise. It’d flap the wings once in a while, to maintain height and position. Like a kayaker occasionally paddling to hold position.

It was focused on a movement in the bushes in front of it (and of me). But still, it took a glance at me and generally behind it every so often. I loved how it could be doing all those little things to hover on the spot so effortlessly, and yet be comfortable enough to turn it’s head (and just the head) around to stay aware. Again, kind of how good kayakers can twist their heads and upper bodies to scan around while still continuing to keep the boat stable using their core, legs, arms, and experience.

After about 5 minutes, the kite suddenly half folded its wings in the stuka wing shape, and dived. It landed about 5m ahead of me in the bushes with a clear thump (audible in the moderately heavy wind). A moment later, it rose and flew away with (what looked like) a field mouse in its mouth.

I took a long breath, smiled, and walked on. Lucky day 🙂

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