dual personalities

Yesterday when I was working upstairs in my guest bedroom/office, I witnessed another amazing “tonic of wildness” event. A juvenile hawk of some kind was engaged in a spirited tussle with a squirrel.

Clearly the squirrel was messing with the hawk’s mind. He would hide under the Hosta and then dart out and up the tree. The hawk would fly around the tree and the squirrel would go back under the Hosta.

Hawks are not designed to fly around trees. The squirrel could have gotten away easily if it wanted, but it kept doing it and the hawk got more and more disoriented.

Finally the hawk gave up and flew up in the tree. (I hope it didn’t have a vindictive parent.) I bet that squirrel was laughing it up big time with his buddies later.

All this happened in between Zoom calls. What a life.

In other news our powder room renovation was finally completed last week! We started it last year, but it was sidelined along with some other projects. Last week it was painted and the wallpaper went up. It looks great! I can’t take pictures in a bathroom, but this will give you an idea…

The wallpaper is Thibaut and it brings me joy! Elephants, camels, monkeys!

My old friend WWII Guy posted this quote on his Facebook page. We all know the line about an invincible summer from Albert Camus’ essay “Return to Tipasa,” but this enlarged quote seems to be a “fake” (misattributed) Camus quote:

“He said, ‘In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love. In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile. In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm. I realized, through it all, that in the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger—something better, pushing right back.’”

I like it anyway.