365 days of being a writer: day 304

I finally sent the hummingbirds off to a journal. It feels like a stronger essay, but after awhile it's hard to know if I am reading a stronger piece, or just seeing all the work I've put into it and hoping it's actually stronger.

My eyes are still recovering, but I was able to drive today--in the sun and in the dark. There's quite a bit of haloing to get used to, and some prisms (those are a result of the first laser, and will abate more quickly than the halos). I went to the Botanical Garden. I played with the king snake at the snake exhibit and then saw a wild one in a tree, trying to swallow a bird it had killed.

I also saw a nighthawk. I actually saw it and wondered what it was, then overheard a description at one of the demo tables that matched. They literally fly into their insect prey with an open mouth. Their throats are coated in bristles to help trap flying ants, mosquitos, flies, and beetles. They dip and soar like swallows or bats and have two bright white spots on their wings. One echinopsis was blooming and the senitas were going nuts, little blossoms all over them by full dark. Still no queen of the nights. Now that the hummingbird paper is submitted, I can't really call these night trips to the garden research, but the mental health break is nice.

I was supposed to write a few Demand articles today, but I didn't have it in me. Tomorrow I will make sure that a couple get done.