I found a huge purple sea star in one of the pocket beaches in Olympic Sculpture Park.
These beaches are designed and managed to improve habitat and ecosystem functions while still letting many people enjoy them. The tide was low and I looked around and realized the five armed echinoderm was situated in a bed of hundreds of marine snails. When this sea star wants to eat, it just has to displace itself a few inches in any direction and drill into one of these fat morsels.
I also found a small bat flapping about on the ground in midafternoon in Seward Park. I wonder why it was disoriented – injury, cold shock, or affliction with white nose fungus?
Other sightings that day included Steller’s jays, spotted towhees, bald eagles, common mergansers, dark eyed juncos, chickadees, cormorants and a huge flock of coots on Lake Washington.
On a nighttime bike ride I saw Orion rise next to the Space Needle like the mythic hunter was about to strike the tower and would soon dominate the winter night. A busker was nearby playing the Tatooine cantina theme from "A New Hope." This brought on fond associations. Then I listened to him play the first Christmas music of the season. A drunk lady coming out of a concert flopped over right in front of the musician so he had to stop. I cruised home on my bike and enjoyed the slick streets and the spectacle of two idiot drivers who had just smashed into each other, probably while drunk.
I feel I’m ready for winter. I own more wool this time. The other day I slept for 13 hours, which alarmed me since I missed all the day’s daylight but I also felt deep appreciation for not having children to wake me up and I made up for the lost daylight with that nighttime bike ride. Some acquaintances have expressed how life is over now that it’s cold and they are going to roll over and give up for five months. Those people are needlessly giving power over their psyche to external, natural circumstances and they should consider getting out there on foot or on a bike looking for living things to prevent feeling that the cold and dark oppresses them. Go look at slugs and leaves as they continually cycle and change.
pseudoisaac 