[October 2005 journal entry]
I am reclining on our patio with a cup of coffee, breathing the morning air as therapy for a respiratory illness. I am watching the sunlight slowly spread across the leaves of the oak tree in the center of our backyard. First I heard the birds. Now I am tracking the birds and the squirrels as they begin their day. I hear cars, a few passing the front of our house and more traveling down nearby Poplar Avenue. I just spent several minutes eyeing the moon as it moved across an opening in the tree branches. I feel the gentle breeze. I follow leaf after leaf (including a green one) on its downward journey to the ground.