Actually, it’s more accurate to say I’m thinking about living things: there’s Ms. Robin, who, after a brief hiatus, has now returned to the nest she built in our patio umbrella . This will be her second brood this year, and her fourth since she first arrived last summer, apparently approving of our new patio and furniture.

There’s Mr. (?) Spider who, for the last couple of weeks, has reliably built a web from my car door to the ceanothus adjacent to the driveway. I can’t get in the car without knocking down the web, but it doesn’t seem to bother him – he just puts it back up overnight.

Both of these creatures set a good example for me – regardless of the vicissitudes (Mr. Spider has to rebuild his web every day, Ms. Robin’s last clutch of eggs didn’t appear to produce any fledglings) – both keep at their work, doggedly. It encourages me to encounter them each day, busy and engaged.

Being out of the mainstream workforce has its challenges. I find myself more or less completely fading from most former colleague’s ken as they (naturally) cope with the more pressing issues of their respective lives. Much of my ‘work’ involves finding ways to stay busy – I’m trying to bring more order to my photo archive, I continue to work at rehab daily, I give myself photo assignments that match my current state of mobility. Like my mascot, Wall-E, it’s up to me to make sense, and purpose in the world in which I find myself…

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