• A trip to the Chicago River’s north branch.
    • The beaver forming a little triangle wake behind her.
    • The huge blue heron, to whom I crept up slowly, trying to figure out if she was real or a statue. I’ve been fooled by too many lawn ornaments.
    • Making some kind of happy noise when I saw eight or so ducks jumping into the current, one after the other.
    • The shopping list on the forest floor. First item: “Dr. Scholl’s corn remover.”
    • The two women about my age who, when I passed them in the woods, gigglyly said, “you seem special,” and when I asked why, “because your hair” and “you’re just walking alone in the woods, watching that big bird.”
    • The little gourd bobbing in the just-starting-to-freeze river.
  • The window AC unit being held up by a weathered can of green beans.