Cloud gazing

Yesterday, I was feeling really tired and lazy so I went for a bike ride to a nearby park. It was a hot, hazy, windy day. I was thirsty when I got there, so I bought a can of pop. I don't drink pop much, so it's always kind of exciting when I do have it. I laid down on the grass and looked up. There was only one kite. It was kind of an unremarkable kite, with no tail or shimmery bits or anything - it just looked like an oversized monarch butterfly - but it was doing a great job of flying. There was a sky-full of sunbeams shining down through the clouds, a spectacle which an old boyfriend and I used to call God. But not god.

As I lay there, I tried to recall in detail the steps I would take on an opening shift at the diner where I used to work. I imagined piercing the tape on a box of hashbrowns with a fork and tearing it off, stacking the bags of potatoes upright inside the box and slicing the tops off them with a serrated-edged knife as the grill heated up. A straight-edged knife slipped easily, especially if it was really sharp, so I was more likely to cut myself, which I often did anyway. I pictured opening the butter packet starting at each end and then unfolding the top, cutting the butter into four chunks which I'd then smear on the grill. Unfolding the butter packet in any other order meant that the paper would probably tear, or at least not come off as easily, which was annoying. I saw myself pouring each bag of potatoes in a line on the grill, careful to keep any of the butter from slipping into the trough, evening out the piles of little potato cubes and dousing them in pepper and seasoning salt. It was always easier to shake out the pepper because it was coarse. Then the sausages, and the bacon... I really had to concentrate hard to remember everything, not only because I've forgotten but also because it's so hard to prevent your mind from wandering if you're lying on the grass not doing anything in particular.

I was more tired when I came home due to all that thinking, but I managed to stay up and watch Little Children, which I thought was a really good movie.

(The photo is not of yesterday's sky but just a random prairie photo taken when I still had that camera.)