A Good Morning

Up early this morning.  Woke up before Mark's alarm went off at 5:30.  Odd sense I didn't blow the candles out till after 2am.  But I was awake and had some energy so after Mark left I went out for a ride on Ducky.  I road out to the first pier along Alki and then sat there for quite a while watching the gulls and crows and a man on a paddleboard waiting for waves.  I eventually noticed that the dark birds perched out on the buoy marker/light thing were not cormorants but a pair of eagles.  They were perched there watching the morning go by... so I took a lesson from Eagle and perched on a bench and watched the morning go by.  When they took off they were just above eye level and very close to me - they are such magnificent birds, so awe inspiring.  And enduringly patient - they have to be considering the number of gulls and crows that suddenly showed up to harass them when they took off.  I watched a crow keep flying in from behind one of the eagles and when it got with in six inches or so the eagle would shift and drop just a little but it always made the crow pause for a moment in his boldness.  Once the eagles had disappeared I picked myself up off the bench and turned Ducky towards home.  The heron that I had seen on the way out was now further out in the water where the receding tide was giving access to more of the shallow sandbars.  More people were out by the time I was riding towards home.  More joggers, more cyclists, more rollerbladers, stroller pushers and dog walkers - all typical of a sunny morning on Alki.  It was nice to have a day that I could be out there adding my own touch to the crowd - sitting tall on my blue mixtie and pedaling along with a sunny day eagle enhanced smile.