The post office closed at 4:30. I got there at 4:39. That meant a ride down to the main post office on Loyola. I wasn’t quite in the mood for that little trip this afternoon, but the bike ride through Central City was surprisingly pleasant and the line at the post office–at 5:00pm, mind you–took less than fifteen minutes. Riding back on Oretha Castle Haley, I heard a loud rustling and looked up to see three parrots. They heard my squeaky bike and flew to safety. I know there are parrots in these parts, but I’d never seen them up close, so I stopped and waited quietly for them to fly back down and let me peek at them. While waiting I thought about how lucky I was to be on my bike. If I’d been in a car I wouldn’t have heard the parrots, and if I had, I wouldn’t have been able stop hard and pedal back to catch a look at them. Two of them finally fluttered down, but this one stayed up on the wire. I didn’t have my camera with me, so had to take this picture looking up through my cell phone. I was disappointed not to be prepared to catch this lovely green bird against a blue-gray cloudy sky. But then I remembered that one of the great things about riding a bike around is that I get to see whatever I get to see. Photographs see all kinds of things, but not the same things eyes do. So I stared at this bird on the wire at Erato and OC Haley for awhile, and then rode home, happy for another day on the bike.