But it might have been a vulture

This was one of those times that I spend a ridiculously long time trying to find something for a subject line. (Which is one of the dangers of not finishing these things until after any reasonable bedtime.) After a ridiculously long time, I finally thought of "Song of Isaac", which I'm glad I did, because it reminded me that last week I thought I saw a vulture but it decidedly was an eagle. Actually first I thought it was a raven. I was hiding from a lady walking a dog, behind a cottage at the back of the bay. There were ravens all around, as there are around the cottage all winter--I guess there probably aren't actually more in the winter than other times, but they're more visible with the leaves off the trees, and they stand out as one of the few kinds of birds that stay all year (along with chickadees and woodpeckers), and the biggest birds you normally see in the winter. I always feel like they must relish the winter as the time they rule the place. (And, these days, I wonder if they remember me from the winter I stayed there with them.) So when I saw a large black bird flying toward me from the other side of the bay, I thought it was a raven, and I wondered what the big white thing in its beak could be. As it came closer I realized its wings were vulture-shaped and not raven-shaped, and so for a moment I wondered what the white thing the vulture had in its beak could be, before I realized the white thing was its head. I'd never seen an eagle in the wild before I went to Seattle in 2014; since then I've seen them all over the place (but only in the winter; like the juncos and tree sparrows, they move in when the summer birds move out). This was the first one I'd seen around the cottage, though. Last month I brought home a merganser head--it's still in the freezer--that I'm guessing was discarded by a bald eagle on the neighbours' dock.

Something worth noting: Abraham is the first character in the bible who gets a detailed biography, and when Genesis turns to Abra(ha)m there seems to be a remarkable turn in the narrative style; it becomes much less sparse, more like conventional story-telling. There are fewer obvious blanks to fill in, but for that, more hidden connections and disconnections to be found or made. In Barthes's terms, the text becomes less readerly and more writerly.

Down the pipe today from Bible Gateway: Genesis 22-24. ( But first, something curious at the end of Genesis 21 that hadn't registered on me before. )

I keep thinking I can't keep this up, but, I dunno, what better can ya do than studyin' the bible, right? Certainly seems better for my mental health than most other things I might be doing. (Which, uh, hold yer tongue there.)

Currently at Havelock: 0.8. High for January 19 actually ended up an even 1, just before 11 p.m. This winter definitely ain't gonna knock off my Coldest Winter Ever.