An osprey just landed on top of the flagpole at the historic Davenport Hotel. And the fact that I can look out my downtown Spokane office window and see that seems pretty damned cool right at the moment. It's the first of November and admittedly, I've been feeling a little blue about any number of things including the fact that my garden has gone fallow, my dahlia tubers need wrapping, I just heard the first forecast with snow in it (arriving Thursday), I haven't gotten to ride my bike much lately and now I'm doomed to slog along in the snow with my much heavier studded mountain bike tires. Alright... I was hurtling, headlong into a little self pity party... until that bird perched on that flagpole outside my window.

That osprey (which is actually a super amazing indigenous fish-hawk with two sets of eye lids!) reminded me all over again of just how cool it is to live and work in Spokane. More days than not, the sky is brilliant blue. (Like today.) Deer and moose, eagles and osprey, and even the occasional cougar and bear sneak into the city's parks and neighborhoods. Class III+ whitewater is three (no kidding, three!) minutes from my parking space. The Centennial Trail, some 37 miles of it, is two blocks away and the Trek cruisers we use for quick commuting are right outside my office door. The cool new Cougar Crest Tasting room, plus a couple of hip new restaurants, Fraiche and Rex's Burgers & Brews, just opened across the street. We have Nordstrom and the infamous "Half Yearly Sale" is only a week away!
My list could keep going like a bad direct response TV ad ("but wait... there's more!!"). But today I'll settle for saying Spokane rocks. And it just took a little poke in the shoulder (or virtual peck in the eye) to remember it.