Indian summer

it's a warm evening and I opted not to walk because i don't like to sweat. Pete and I walked last night for an hour, briskly, and it was cool and I sweated. The crickets are in full song outside and it sounds like summer, except that at 8:30 the sun has been down for a while, so it's not summer in Northern California. It's Indian Summer. The stars were beautifully brilliant last night, and as we were walking in the dark we found ourselves alone on the trail. An owl flew low over our heads, looking for all the world like a dinosaur. BIG! We heard the bells ring at St. Mary's College a mile down the road. It was 8:00... we counted. We noted a powerful bad smell on our way up the trail and on the way back, I remembered, ah, there was a dead baby deer right on the side of the trail. I'd seen it the day before when i took Danny the Dog for a walk. My experts guess that a coyote had gotten it. In the dark we hadn't spotted it. We are part of an ecosystem alright. We came home and took showers and climbed into our comfy beds. I'm glad our species has these things. I'm also grateful for the chance to walk around the habitats of other creatures. and to see the beautiful oak trees silhouetted on the hillsides, black against the barely lit sky. Our world is beyond beautiful. Exquisite? Magical? It is good.