Letter Home • bird is the word • 5.9.09

Dear friends:  a mellow day. I really should be sending out resumes, but… I decided to take the day off and just chill. My little chickadee is hunched over her computer here at PGJJ doing God-knows-what. I just stopped to wet my beak. On the walk into town, we passed a Bird of Paradise plant getting ready to bloom. The gulls are patrolling the wall by The Grill down at Lovers Point, ready to strike at anything remotely resembling food, including my grilled cheese sandwich (American cheese). They become aroused and drool when they eye fries. Still not feeling well. Cashed my meager check and went to PG Nutrition and got a nasal spray sample (which worked immediately!) and some nutritional pills which I’m counting on working soon – at least the placebo effect. I deposited Sarah at the café and walked down to the Point and chatted with Nathan and Anna at the Grill, took some photos, walked around the point, ate my sandwich. It’s gray and foggy, with some breaks of sun. I notice that it is much warmer in Northampton right now. Local lore suggests that it gets really hot (100+) in the neighboring valley, while it tends to be cool and foggy in our little town. I’m not sure about Monterey, but I assume the weather is pretty similar. Had a nice chat with Dustin, the guy at the kayak rental place at the Point, a ‘garage’ that opens right onto the beach. He gave me some pointers and advice. As soon as I have twenty bucks, I want to get out on the water. Wet suits are 10 bucks for the day. I do miss those really hot days in Orleans when you could actually swim in the ocean; it’s just too cold here, although there are some polar bears who do it. I wouldn’t do it without a wet suit. The water is about 10-15 degrees colder that the National Seashore on the Cape. The birds don’t seem to mind. They have various strategies for staying warm, such as oily feathers, pulling one leg up under their wing. Once in a while you can see the waterlogged web-footed cormorants standing on a rock with their wings spread, looking like an Albanian flag, drying out. Sarah went to visit her birds at the Aquarium yesterday while I was compiling lists of departments and people to contact about a more substantial job at the Aquarium. I learned this week that birds have osticular rings (bone) around their eyes, which in seabirds helps protect their eyes and keep their eyeballs in the proper round shape. Fun Feathered Fact: The Common Murre (or Guillemot) looks a bit like a penguin, spending most of its time at sea (or at the Aquarium), and can dive up to 600’. I’m surrounded by birds. I’m trying to decide whether to flap my wings and wend my way to the Aquarium.   Paul