Deirdre Saoirse Moen

Sounds Like Weird

Saturday in Marin

03 September 2005

Today, we decided to go get away from the stressors of the week and drive up to Marin to visit one of our favorite haunts, Sweden House in Tiburon. We sat out on the back deck and had lingonberry pancakes and other yummies.

I looked out over the water and saw a bird swimming. “A duck,” I said (despite the glare and despite the fact that my reading glasses don’t focus at that distance). When going to a restaurant, I wear my reading glasses for the simple reason that I get queasy if my food’s out of focus. Weird but true.

Rick looked at me. “No, that’s a seagull.” I squinted, then saw that it was.

Well, there’s always the Ruby concept of Duck Typing, which I explained. You see, it was acting like a duck….

After that, we went to the Marin French Cheese company and had a small picnic. As we were approaching the picnic area, I saw a group of birds sitting under one of the tree.

“Ducks,” I said.

My mother (the Canadian) said, “No, those are geese.” I looked more closely and saw that they were Rather Large and that I’d been deceived by the brown bodies and dark heads — the majority of geese I’ve seen have been white. I mumbled something about duck typing. Again.

Really, I do know what ducks look like. Honest.

We had some cheese and shared a bit of bread with the birds, including redwing blackbirds. They are so gorgeous in flight.

Some little bright turquose dragonflies darted about, though none were still enough for a photo.

Then, finally, we left for home.


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