OK, mark it down. August 23. The first day I had to don a sweatshirt and toss a blanket on my bed. Autumn's in the air in Ulaanbaatar.
Leaving for a weekend Gobi trip in the morning, but I wanted to take a sec to share a few odds 'n' ends with y'all. For instance, this comic that occasional DODR commenter Tom Robertson sent me upon finding it at The Chopping Block, astutely gauging that it was just exactly my sense of humor. It gave me the first big belly laugh this morning. I've since been repeating the word "abbatoir" like it's a Tourette's tic:
The laughter quickly dissipated, however, overshadowed by a scowl as I read this item in today's UB Post about the rampant poaching of wild falcons by Arabs specially flown into Mongolia for just that purpose. That's right, these gorgeous creatures, which just happen to be on the endangered list. I'm sure this is going on because a lot of money is changing hands, but I intend to have a frank chat with powerful friends to try to get this stopped.
Me, I hunt birds with binocs, and yesterday I had a rare chance to go out birding with a real expert. Mark Brazil, among many things, is a professor in Hokkaido, Japan, leading tours during his summer break for Zegrahm Expeditions (including the one which brings him to Mongolia every year), and an author whose upcoming volume will be a definitive field guide to the birds of East Asia. Knowing that this ought to be a peak time for shorebird migration, we headed out to the wetlands near the airport for the afternoon. Our time was limited, but it hardly mattered -- in about an hour of fantastically exciting birding, we observed 17 different species of waders and shorebirds, four of which were life birds for me: Curlew Sandpiper, Ruff, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, and a long longed-for Pacific Golden-plover. I also saw one Ruddy Turnstone as a new bird for Mongolia. And to top it off, when I casually mentioned I hadn't been able to procure a copy of the essential Collins Complete Guide to the Birds of Europe, he immediately offered to give me his. Guess who's my new best friend?
Finally, I leave you with a quote that's been running obsessively through my head for some weird reason. I'm currently reading Dostoevsky's Devils. Early on, the pompous Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovensky says, in the French he frequently lapses into, "Et puis, comme on trouve toujours plus des moines que de raison..." at which his companion, Varvara Petrovna Stavrogina interrupts and busts him with, "You can't have thought that up yourself. You must have borrowed it from somewhere." He's forced, then, to cop to lifting the bon mot from Blaise Pascal's Lettres provinciales. It's translated in my edition as, "And then, since one always encounters monks more frequently than common sense..." Could be my epitaph, man.
My son will love this.
Speaking of encountering monks, I have to email you the picture I took of a young monk in the Chicago airport, getting his shoes shined. Don't know why, but it struck me as funny!
Posted by: Carol of Seattle | August 23, 2007 at 10:32 AM
We're a few days up on you. Since Sat it has been sweatshirt and comforter weather in NH, but we never seem ready for it. Spring too slow, fall too quick; but the tomatoes still like the day time sun, and are gleaming. Have a wonderful Gobi weekend, we look forward to hearing of your surprises there!
Posted by: sisLaura | August 23, 2007 at 07:26 PM
Oh y'all that cool weather sounds wonderful. Down here in Huntsville it was 104 (40C); twelfth day in a row at or above 100 (38C). And the endless worst-on-record drought. The media haven't really talked much yet about the death toll, but expect it to be pretty bad with so many elderly who have to decide on paying for medicine or air-conditioning.
Speaking of birds, I saw for the second time this summer a sharp-shinned hawk yesterday in the back yard, and then a little while later found a pile of mourning dove feathers.
Posted by: kunzang | August 23, 2007 at 10:37 PM