At first I didn't notice the grand pianos

sitting on the sand bar. I went to an out of the way beach park to enjoy the view. At first I was preoccupied with a small emergency involving some pureed yams. Then I was eating a sandwich. At that point I looked up at the peaceful gray green ocean stretching before me. That's when I noticed them: two black grand pianos, standing on a submerged sandbar fifty feet from shore. People were having their pictures taken playing them. They worked. They looked like regular people who had just happened upon the pianos. Eventually I learned that the pianos had been brought in to be part of a video. They brought a piano moving truck and a bunch of guys in shorts picked up the pianos and removed them. Funny how I had a feeling not to use the disabled parking spot that day. They used it.

On the way to the beach I had seen a flock of birds flying in formation, which we don't have a lot of here. Funny thing was, most of the birds were white but some were black. Never seen that before. That area is quite developed but it used to be more rural and laid back. Sometimes you can still see it. It was a beautiful day. The side streets to the beach are called Holiday* and Ocean Streets. On Holiday street, some wild ducks were lingering as usual in front of one of the houses, waiting for a handout? On Ocean Street a guy keeps a wild pig as a pet. He walks it late at night on a leash at the beach park.

There was a little patch of green next to the highway. In the afternoon sun a white cattle egret landed there, a reminder of the time when the area had been a giant cattle ranch. Two bright yellow birds landed on a chain link fence next nearby. I've never seen that type of bird before.

Today I saw the flock of black and white birds flying in formation again.


*names have been changed