Whenever I walk past my neighbor’s house, I’ll see an avocado on their lawn. I’ve always wondered where they come from because there are no avocado trees that I can see anywhere around. The first time I saw it, I thought maybe it fell out of the neighbor’s grocery bag as they were schlepping their groceries into the house, but then I started seeing avocados on the wall between our houses, and in my backyard, so that ruled out that hypothesis.

Then, a few days ago, Bonnie and I were sitting out front and saw Mono, the one-eared squirrel that lives in our ficus tree, going about her business. She was dragging a pinecone up into the tree, but came down to take a break and have a snack. She had an avocado buried in the wood chips to eat at her leisure.

Since then, seeing squirrels carrying avocados around has become a common sight. I don’t know why I never saw it before.

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My first thought, when I saw this poor, lone sunflower growing between a power pole and a trash can, was what a waste of a beautiful flower. But then, I thought, why not grow there and add a bit of beauty to an objectively ugly spot?

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Since my dad was a teacher, he had summers off, too, which I think may have fucked me up when it comes to work – that could be a whole post on its own, so I won’t get into it here – so summers meant travel.

Every summer, we camped at Lake SanAntonio, we visited my grandparents in Washington, went to the beach, Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Dodger Games, zoos, and anything else you can think of. We also went to Florida for Christmas one year, and Hawai’i the following summer. In 1985, my grandpa rented two houseboats on Lake Powell, and the whole family spent a week cruising around the desert oasis.

I’ve often said that my life peaked when I was eight because, well, it did. The first eight years of my life were crammed with a lifetime of experiences, so I guess it’s good that I got them in early because I have never and will never be able to afford them as an adult.

I suppose that’s why I grew to dislike summer. As an adult, summertime is nothing but heat and unattainable expectations. There are so many things I want to do, but no time or money to do them, so by September every year, I feel like I wasted the whole season.

So, this year, I’m entering summer with my expectations tempered. I’m not making plans or getting my hopes up. If I end up doing something cool, it will be an extra special event because happiness = reality – expectations.

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As soon as I got my camera out, I scared it and it flew out of the nest. It was very clear that it wasn’t ready to brave the world on its own. It bounced off various objects and had trouble gaining altitude and ultimately crashed into the back of my van and fell between my bumper and a 2 x 4 with its little wing draped over the board.

It looked terribly uncomfortable, so I tried to move the 2 x 4 and scared it again and it flew up to the market lighting strung across the yard. I checked on it after an hour and it was still there, but it’s not there anymore, so I’m not sure what its fate was. This is why it’s best to leave nature alone.

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Although there was a moment there when Bonnie wondered if maybe she wasn’t trying to kick the baby out of the nest, but we watched her feeding both chicks throughout the day, so I don’t think she was playing favorites or anything. In fact, before I helped the baby back into the nest, Mama was sitting on the edge with her tail feathers over the chick, trying to keep it from falling any further. Or, at least that’s how it appeared. Who knows what was going on in her head.

Once I had the baby back in the nest and I had backed off, Mama calmed down pretty quickly.

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