wow

As we were heading home today past a little park near our office, we saw a stork walking along one of the sidewalks perpendicular to the one we were on. That was the first wow: You see a stork, and all you can think of immediately is "STORK". They look just like they do in Disney movies. There is no way that could be anything but a stork. (On the other hand, I still can't tell herons and cranes apart, despite knowing that one tucks its neck in when it flies and the other doesn't). And they are big. It probably stood higher than my waist.

We started walking towards it, as it was just standing there, and it started clacking its beak. But not at us - no, at the little kitty who was starting to creep up on it (the same little kitty who was so friendly back in Nov.) The cat kept crouching lower to the ground and moving ahead faster, and the crane actually started walking/hopping away from it! I never would've thought that a cat, and a little one at that, could worry a bird as big as a stork.

Then up that sidewalk another couple came walking, and one distracted the kitty so that she turned and started trotting away, and THEN the stork started bounding after the cat, little hops with partially spread wings, and still clacking its beak. I wanted to stay and find out what was going to happen, but even though it was gorgeous out when we left the house this morning, and so we didn't bring our jackets, it had cooled down by the time we headed home, and Joel didn't want to stay there any longer. But, definitely, wow. Both the stork and the kitty chasing the stork and the stork chasing the kitty.