Exhausted

Cemetery Monument to a President

I just walked down to the little lake at the bottom of the cemetery.

As I was sitting there, watching the swallows zip across the water and a kingfisher move, surprisingly, without a sound, from tree to tree on the other side, a huge goldfish, maybe 15", swam back and forth in the still waters at my feet.  I noted with satisfaction that it had outgrown the predatory dangers of the great blue herons, and then saw, a little further into the water, what looked like another, truly enormous, goldfish just under the surface. I concluded that there must be two or three of them swimming close together -- surely no fish in this little pond could have grown to such a size!

I stood and leaned out over the water to get a better look at the shimmering and undulating orange glimmering under the greenish water.  It was then that I realized that I was looking at a school of small goldfish -- maybe five dozen of them!  (Yes, I tried to count them -- a futile effort.)  I could see another school in motion out toward the center of the lake.  Lovely and alive -- but also, I'm afraid, mostly dinner for herons.

Everyone in my family is in a good place.  My son in North Carolina has made, according to the doctor, "a complete turnaround" and is back at work.  His brother is safely ensconced in France.  Their sister's emails from camp simply sparkle.  My husband has gone off to visit his family for the holiday week-end.  I am home, so tired I can hardly move, the cat and dog are sprawled on the bed, and all is quiet and well with my little world.

Walked: 3 miles:

Yesterday: Walked: 3.5 miles.

Walked in the past week: 30 miles.

Friday, July 2: Walked: 5.5 miles.