A Siege of Herons

I saw a siege of herons today delicately prodding their beaks into a puddle in the pothole of the parking lot.

I was doing my laundry when I saw them, running some towels to the outdoor washer and dryer of my apartment complex. The terrycloth was damp and nestled in the crook of my elbow while I watched them, the chestnut and ivory plumes of their feathers beaded with raindrops. The sky was a cloudy shade of pewter but the puddles shimmered like silver mirrors.

Under the cover of the stormy skies, I decided to watch Inside Daisy Clover (1965, Dir. Robert Mulligan) a passion project of Natalie Wood’s following her divorce from Robert Wagner, starring a young Robert Redford in one of his earliest roles.

I made a trip to The Dollar Tree and bought some sparkling pear cider and a champagne flute. Some homage to a forgotten time when I used to sip Tattinger with my parents many a Christmas Eves ago. Those days have long since passed, my father and I don’t drink anymore since my mother died.