a saw a little dog in the grass and heard it a little later

ORIGINALLY POSTED February 17, 2023

it is friday. in my history class i couldn't focus because outside smelled like wet dirt and morning and it reminded me of muskoka canada.

a friend told me over lunch that in her ornithology class she learned that chickadees have mobbing calls. 

when one is in distress, they call, and then all of the chickadees will flock over. she learned this because her professor was catching them in a big net to then teach her class how to hold and tag them. she showed me a picture of her with the chickadee in her palm, it's neck between her fingers. she said they were snippy, but she would be snippy too if someone was holding her like that. 

she said the chickadees would get stuck in the net and mob call and then they would all end up getting stuck in the net. or if she was holding one that began to mob call a flock of them would loom above her. we both excited over this. she told me that she learned that second to humans and great apes, that birds have the biggest brain to body ratio. she also pointed out that birds were the only animals to have feathers. we continued to excite over this.

when i got back my roommate asked me to help clean her room. i sat on the floor and helped fold her pants, sort knitting needles, and put straw wrappers in her trash bin. i found a big shiny tarp folded between her furniture. "what's this?" i asked. she explained it was a bounce. it helped redirect light. the sun was shining in through her window so we propped it up against her ceiling. the room had a soft glow. it was funny, minutes ago the sky was so grey. now the sun was swimming through her room.

i sat on the floor and continued to fold cotton shirts and sweaters with raw hems while she showed me a short film she made. i excited over it, telling her she did a beautiful job. it felt good to be so excited. she left and told me i could finish cleaning her room if i wanted to. she knows i like cleaning as much as i like singing or writing or drawing with colored pencils. i told her i might.

i went back into my room to get my sketchbook and it was grey again outside so i poked on my light switch. i got on my bed next to the window and zipped my sweatshirt all the way up. as i prodded through the notebook i watched the clouds shift around, the rain danced against my window and everyone outside ran inside. i didn't really want to draw anymore. i lied down and looked out my window. 

if my parents called me and asked what the weather was like today i wouldn't know what to tell them. today is simply friday.