Wild Kingdom

My daughter told me yesterday that, after I went to work, she sat doing homework in her room, and heard the ungodly wail of a bobcat, very close to the house, and also our ancient, motheaten cat Cloudy, yowling away with the sound that caused Mr. Strega to christen him "A.C.," short for "Annoying Cat." Seems the bobcat had come right up to the back deck of the house, and Cloudy thought it was his job to defend the fortress.
My daughter shooed the bobcat away (I told her I didn't think that was the best idea, to run out and tell it to scoot--she said it bounded right off into the bushes). Cloudy continued to patrol the back deck all day.

The drought has brought out a lot of creatures from the woods--I had to wait for a herd of deer to pass by before pulling out of the driveway yesterday. And yet, today it seems like autumn has slowly begun to creep in; I dreamed of my sister last night, happy and well, teaching a roomful of women who had newly crossed into the afterlife, and then I woke to the first rain of the season, Even this dusty, hot, cranky summer will change--incredibly, as it seemed to last forever, and it is hard to watch it change--my sister was alive at the beginning of summer, and now she is not. It still seems terrible, and unreal. I keep thinking she is at home in her apartment, doing what she always used to do, and I don't think I will ever get used to this.

What I do know is that I am still here and still able to live my life, though time seems more precious now than ever, as the landscape darkens and the season reminds me that winter is just around the bend.