When they get back, they're all mixed up, with no one to stay with

So far this weekend...

Early Saturday, I walked to Fresh Pond and visited Newbury Comics and then Trader Joe's. Outside Trader Joe's, I witnessed a sight I had been seeing over the last couple of weeks. There were people situated in front of a squat and bulky office building with expensive looking cameras and binoculars. The first couple of times I had witnessed this, I figured they were taking photos of the building to be used for advertising purposes. Seemed unlikely, however, that people would be there all the time for something like that.

I walked over to the group of people and followed the line of sight from their binoculars and cameras to the area of the building they were focused on. There I saw, near the top, a makeshift nest with what appeared to be hawks in it. I asked a woman sitting in a lawn chair what type of birds they were looking at . "Red Tail Hawks", she said. I wondered what all the fuss was about. Hawks are fairly prevalent around these parts. I used to see them all the time circling my dad's pigeon coop. "We're waiting to see the babies leave the nest for the first time", the woman said after a couple of minutes. She handed me the binoculars and I took a look. My dad would love this, I thought. He's always been a bird enthusiast and, by extension, so have I.

Fred's girlfriend, Danielle, is up for the weekend. She's a tornado, that one, and when I heard her voice coming from his room the other day, I discarded any notion I had of a relatively quiet weekend around the house. I like Danielle- I had a nice conversation with her and understand her personality type from past experience - but I it's been a challenge dealing with her presence. Last night, I finally had enough of the all the door slamming going on downstairs. It was a combination of the intensity and the frequency that provided the impulse to ask them to cease and desist. Really, it would be like every thirty of forty seconds. SLAM....SLAM....SLAM....SLAM. My room would shake and I'd be startled almost every time. I spoke with them in the kindest way I could muster and they were apologetic.

Mara stopped by Saturday afternoon with my neighbor's kids in tow. Mara had been babysitting them while Ed and Elena were at a wedding and got locked out of the house when Mara went to pay for the pizza that had just arrived. She asked if they could eat it in our house, but the kids were too scared to come in so they went back to their house and ate on the porch. I went over and visited until reinforcements in the form of Ed and Elena's friends came over to take the kids. I went back home to await Craig's arrival and hung out with Fred and Danielle on the porch. Mara came back and wanted to hang out until Ed and Elena came back. We didn't talk much; Mara curled up on the couch and yawned and said how tired she was. I wonder if I bring that out in her.

Went to the dog beach with Spira yesterday. Missy was a sight to behold when she got a burst of energy and ran full speed along the beach. A torpedo that one. Nothing like watching a greyhound going full tilt.

Just watched the Anvil documentary and will read from A Clash of Kings at some point. Woke up late last night feeling a bit of despair. Strange, that. I read some Eckhart Tolle, found my center, and drifted back to sleep. I awoke this morning from a dream in which I moved back to my parent's house and moved out the same day after my parent's suggested I write a note to a distant family member that had just arrived in town. "You know, Kevin, everyone else in the family has reached out but you". Insulted, guilt-ridden, and angry, I got the fuck out of dodge with nowhere to go.

Not surprisingly, I spent part of the morning trying to shake the feeling of loneliness.