On the deck, under the canopy that creaked and popped in coming warmth, the hummingbirds appeared in a buzz of motion to stab long tongues into sugar water, a flash of impossible ruby feathers shimmering in the light, while beyond them in the field of tall grass and pussy willows, violet-green swallows tucked their wings and swooped low and mountain bluebirds perched atop fence posts, tilted their tiny azure heads and sang to the sunshine. After a fulfilling morning spent crystal shopping and path-working, we drove to Puyallup to spend the afternoon and evening with a very good friend, the sort of relaxed, no-effort, be-yourself relationship that fills my heart and takes me away from the weighty press of what I imagine wrongly as normal life.