Simple Pleasures — Hangin’ At Headquarters

Sunset Over Lake Devonwood

Some time back I wrote about the cattle, gators and eagles at B&W headquarters.   Our home and my working office are on Lake Devonwood, which began its life as a quarry when they were building the Tamiami Trail back in the 20’s, and now it’s become so naturalized that the only way to realize its origins is to see this area from the air.  And that’s something my neighbor does routinely as he takes off and lands his helicopter from one of the pastures at the end of the lake.

For me, the best part of living here is that nature has claimed Lake Devonwood as her own, with river otters, all manner of water birds, the visiting alligators, tons of fish, and many small mammals, from rabbits to raccoons, presided over by the ever watchful eagle family.

Taking a break from the heads down work of updating my magnum opus (all 3,000 pages or so of object model/architectural “starter kits”), I spent a few hours yesterday and again this afternoon doing what I do best — reading classic British mysteries, swimming laps (I work out all my presentations in my head as well as planning travel dreams in this otherwise most boring of activities), and watching life go by.  And life today included the parent eagles patiently teaching their very large offspring how to bring home the dead fish.

You’ve never heard anything so absurd as the sound of an eagle fledgling whining because he just can’t get that damn fish or the equally absurd but higher and louder squeals of parent eagles encouraging baby.  G-d must have a sense a humor or these majestic birds wouldn’t sound like squeaky toys — but they do.  So, for two calming, restful hours, to the continuous squeaking of parents and child, I read and swam and picked up a little color.  I also worked through a number of client issues and upcoming presentations in my head and thought about going up the Amazon in 2012.

Now it’s sunset over Lake Devonwood, and I’ve been back to the “starter kits” for the last few hours.  But my weekend has been wonderful.  Hope yours was too.  In a world filled with so much truly awful news, I am very grateful to have had another healthy day by the shores of Lake Devonwood.