If we decide

to part

Let us not

say goodbye,

but when

holding hands

walking down a

deserted beach,

I will bend over

to pick up a

shell

and when I turn

to show you…

you’ll be

gone.

     Tonight I shall go to bed about 5 am and as to when I arise, who can say? No later than ten, more like 9 am, I would guess.  My sleep patterns have been disrupted for years I think, and all this work doesn’t help.   Three nights ago I decided to take some melatonin before going to bed.  So far since beginning to take it, I have slept much sounder and deeper.  Once before when I tried it, I had vivid dreams and that seems to be the case now.  My dreams are longer and much more involved.   I have read that .5 mg taken before bed is about all  one needs, and so I think that I will cut the 3 mg. tablets that I have in two and see how that works. 

     A while back on one of my walks to the beach, I saw a flock of about 18 Common Mergansers swimming in Puget Sound near the bank.  For some reason the female seems much more common, and I only occasionally see the male.  Almost all of these birds were swimming along with their heads stuck just below the water up to the eyes, presumably looking for fish.  They are skittish birds and I stood very still to avoid spooking them.  They swam swiftly by heading north along the bank and were soon lost to sight.  Just recently I had seen this behavior for the first time when I saw the Loon, and now there were all these birds doing the same thing!