July 13

---

Made the second Roofscape t-shirt, Saints (see just above). Researching hawks to continue Hawks on the Wing article. Reading The Birder's Handbook.

Biked down and spent the day in the garden. Weeded. Pruned and trained tomatoes. Ate some ripe ones. Weeded. Groomed. Weeded. And weeded. Composters piled sky high, bursting at the seams. Weeded again.

Major raspberries. Greens going great - collards, kale, mustard, chard. Picked a big trash bag full, maybe 5 plus lbs. Grapes, prolific tiny coin clusters of green. Banks of orange tiger lilies and deep green mint. Bushes of pale yellow hot peppers. Zucchini, all the butts, blossom ends, gnawed off by squirrels or rats trying a tasting menu and passing on the entree.

Forgot my phone. No laptop, no internet. No neighbors, although heading home I spotted and stoped in to chat with Phyllis.

Weather ... H-78°. L-48°. 1:00-77°. Soil-65°. Wind-SW,5-10. Sky-100/50%. RH-low. Precip-none.

Birds ...
Blackbird, Red-winged | √ Cardinal, Northern | √ Catbird, Gray
Chickadee, Black-capped | Cormorant, Double-crested
√ Crow, American | √ Dove, Mourning | √ Dove, Rock
√ Duck, Mallard | Egret, Snowy | Falcon, Peregrine
Finch, House | Goldfinch, American | √ Grackle, Common
Grosbeak, Rose-breasted | Gull. Herring | Hawk, Red-tailed
√ Heron, Great Blue | Heron, Little Blue
Hummingbird, Ruby-throated | √ Goose, Canada | Martin, Purple
Merganser, Hooded | √ Mockingbird, Northern
Oriole, Baltimore | √ Robin, American | √ Sparrow, House
Sparrow, Song | Sparrow, White-throated | √ Starling, European
Swan, Mute | Titmouse, Tufted | Thrush, Swainson's
Thrush, Wood | Warbler, Black-throated Blue
Woodpecker, Downy | Woodpecker, Red-headed
Yellowthroat, Common

Late in the morning I was reading under the grape arbor, absorbed in the bird book mentioned above, when suddenly somebody was standing a few feet from me calling into the neighbor's garden, "Buddy." He seemed equally startled to see me when I emerged. A crack head, spaced out. For sure? He dropped his lighter, which I returned while escorting him out. Locked the gate, you can be sure.

Bike back home. A favorite half-way stopping point returning from downtown, close by Melnea Cass and Tremont. Stop and write. A wash of linden pollen on the rising wind, pungent and persistant as a subtle perfume. A better feeling than the garden. Free. Why? In anonymous places, seeing unknown faces, we are freer? No weeds to pull.