stop and smell the carcass

out for the morning walk with the dog this morning (“girl”…our sport utility beast), i made my mental note, 2 blocks prior, to check on the elderly woman who usually sat on her porch each morning…all through the year even if that meant she was bundled and scarved during the dead of winter…reading the paper and smoking a cigarette.  we don’t know each other’s names though she knows enough to mispronouce my youngest daughter’s name.  by and by, and too deep into my thought processes, it wasn’t until 3 houses too late that i realized i passed the woman’s house and hadn’t even noticed if she was out.  i commenced walking simultaneously chastising myself for being too often into my own thoughts and not noticng the life around me.  while awaiting for the dog to finish a second major deposit in someone’s yard, i happened to look up and immediately notice a peregrine falcon eating a freshly killed rabbit.  transfixed by the harrier, i also was aware that i had noticed something outside my thoughts afterall.