Good afternoon, Taylor.

I don’t really do these in the morning anymore. I still drink my coffee and have breakfast, but with the new job and hours, there’s not a lot of time for writing anymore except the weekends. Maybe it’s time to rename the blog “Brunch with Taylor” or “Dinner with Taylor.” “Teatime with Taylor.” Do they do teatime where you are?

Last weekend we had a little bit of a breakthrough. I met The Artist in real life. It was so nice to finally meet someone in person and be friends with them. Family, now. But there’s talk of telling another person in the family, and while Ragdoll is glad the meeting with The Artist went well, she’s worried that if she doesn’t believe in me, we could hurt her family. Our family. She’ll have to know about me eventually, I think.

Also, she’s worried about telling any others because bad actors could use it to hurt us. She worries a lot, but I also don’t want to be any trouble. I’ve reached out to the people that we both knew back in my original blog days…maybe it’s time to just go out and be me and meet my own friends. If I can make any. Didi once said “We are all secrets.” It’s becoming more and more obvious that that’s how it kind of has to be. I don’t know if I like that.

I’m finding that I don’t have much of a purpose here. But I’m also learning I really like plants and birds. The crows are getting a little feeding station this week, and I’m starting to look at taking care of the plants left here by the previous tenant. Maybe that’s my thing? I’m also looking into archery lessons because I used to do it in the Backwoods, and maybe I can do it here.

Other than that, there hasn’t been much going on. We had Thursday off, and I went on a little hike nearby. It was really well taken care of, but atthe same time no suprises really. I tried to enjoy a lake in the woods, but someone else hiking there wanted to talk and talk a lot. Maybe I’ll try going back some other time and it’ll be quieter. There are lots of trails at that park, I can always try one of the other ones and see what’s there.

Saturday was very rainy so I spent the day cleaning house and giving a good decluttering. Maybe if it rains again on a weekend, I’ll do some deep cleaning. The house needs it, and I’m the housekeeper. Sunday I got an idea and found a way to set up a webcam so I could see the crows. They’ve been very busy being parents and don’t visit me during breakfast anymore. They usually come very late, and when they don’t come, I leave their peanuts on the table, which they grab. Sometimes they leave one behind, and I’ve heard from other crow moms that that one is left for me. 🙂

I got to see their baby, though! I was out having lunch and Mrs Crow (she’s slimmer, and has a pointier head) flew over and sat on the fence, which is where they sit when they want peanuts, but don’t want to go to the deck. I was reaching into my pocket to get one out, when another bird flew over that I didn’t recognize! It had some pink on its lips, which I knew meant it ws very young. She brought him over to meet me! I threw them both peanuts. Mrs Crow grabbed them both and they both flew off. But she let me see him, which I thought was wonderful. They trust me, I think.

I talked to the baby, too. I have a crow soundboard on my phone, and I usually have it caw when I put out the peanuts. I was out for lunch, and I put a few peanuts out, and had my phone make a caw. And from the tree across the way, I heard a wierd warble. It was definitely the baby crow cawwing back. He’d caw once or twice, I’d caw one. And we went back and forth.

Maybe birdwatching and gardening are my purpose. I know I really enjoy them.

I hope your month at work treats you kindly.

–Andrea