One Misty Moisty Afternoon

I know I said I had resolved to exercise in the morning, but I slept in today! Actually, it was quite nice to sleep in since we had been up late the night before making empanades for lunches. I figured I could always exercise "tomorrow" (a dangerous habit to form), especially since it will be a Saturday. I went to work (another long day of answering phones at the front desk, which is not my usual job, but the receptionist was on vacation all week) and came home a little bit early. It was still nice and cool outside, but ALL DAY I had been hearing reports about how H O T it will be this weekend. So I decided to go for my exercise this afternoon rather than tomorrow morning. Even in the early morning on really humid days it can be stifling. I'm glad I did, too! It was a good walk/run and although my shins hurt a little bit, I was breathing very well and felt great. The coolest part of my run, though, came about half way through. I was running along the reservoir and a bright orange and black thing flitted across the path and landed in the bushes on the other side. For a brief moment I thought it was a butterfly, but as it landed it realized it was a bird! I realize that some people, who are fortunate enough to have been raised where there such brighly colored birds commonly live, might think all my excitement is rather silly, but I spent the rest of my run (between agonizing thoughts of how out of shape I am) happily wondering what kind of bird it was. When I got home, I pulled out the eastern bird book we bought in Spokane (we didn't realize it was only for the eastern north american continent, but it worked out since we came to Boston), and began thumbing through the pictures until I found my bird--the Baltimore Oriole. And it was all very nice.