Close Encounters

Because I spend so much time hiking and running with Pono, I usually get a chance to see a desert tortoise or two in the spring.  This year, I was beginning to despair that I missed my chances since I was out of the country for much of the prime tortoise-viewing.  I have been careful to go to the places where we've seen them in past years, but to no avail.  The hot weather is beginning to descend, and the flowers are fading.  I feared the worst - that I would not get a close encounter of the tortoise kind!  So you can imagine my joy this morning, when I returned to the car at the end of our morning run to find a tortoise, quietly hanging out about 20 feet from the car.  It was as though someone came along and placed the tortoise there and said, "wait for Karine."  I know that's not what happened, but it felt like such a gift to see her!  There isn't much that equals the wonder at seeing a desert tortoise in the wild.  I was careful not to get too close or make too much noise.  She merely waited for me to take a few photos, with a casual blink, every now and then.   

That one tortoise sighting was enough to make me float on a wave of happiness all day.  Maybe she was sent to me, to tell me that even though M is halfway around the world, and even though my paintings aren't turning out the way I want them to, and even though I am not selling as much art as I would like, it's all going to be okay.  From the blinking eye of a tortoise, who has endured much more than I have:  life goes on.  

The other recent close encounter was this one:

"uhhhh...what the heck is this thing?"

"Hmmm...smells exactly like stinky dog breath!"

Have a great week, you crazy kats.  And remember, it's all going to be okay.