Spring

Because of a combination of having a whacky ER schedule and April being unseasonably cold, I haven't been outside to run much this spring. I saw the sun peaking out today, and, deciding to be more productive than yesterday, I left for a run.

I ran down to Gray's Lake and around. The City of Des Moines has some kind of program going on and there were signs hung in the trees all around the lake. As far as I could tell, the signs all had haiku's printed on them. In two places around the lake, they had big blackboards and chalk for people to write their own haiku, message, or thoughts. A sign suggested writing your own haiku, so I tried thinking of one as I ran, and this is what I came up with...

feet hit the soft ground
cool air, warm sun on my face
first runs of springtime

On a separate thread, right where the sidewalk from downtown DM meets up with the trail encircling Gray's lake, there is an eagle's nest. When I arrived at the lake, I thought I saw a big dark thing in the next with a white part on top that moved, but I just couldn't be sure since I didn't have my glasses. When I completed the circle, there were 2 people on the sidewalk with tripod-ed viewing devices (one was like a telescope, the other was clearly a camera). I stopped to talk to the camera guy and he said both adult bald eagles were at the nest (confirming what I thought I saw as I approached) and that they were feeding the baby. He let me look through the viewfinder on the camera and right away I saw the little bird poking its gray head up and grabbing at whatever food was offered by it's parent. Really cool, and a good reward for getting outside today!