Leaving the nest.

Today, I've really been feeling the fact that some students of whom I've become very fond won't be here anymore, after a couple more days. I've spent a lot of the day roaming about, doing some errands, continuing my always fruitless search for the perfect special events lipstick (tonight's story for another time), spending some time with my excellent friends. Tomorrow, our ceremonies start, and once they're underway, we're on the fast track to a relatively quiet, depopulated Gambier.

My father has sent me the perfect pictures for the way things are today. I think that I'll refrain from even offering commentary, other than to tell you that these geese live at the factory where he's working near Chicago this week. You can imagine your own captions and connections, though those captions and connections will be much funnier and probably more poignant if you know the pomp and procession of a certain kind of small college's graduation ceremonies.

The funny thing about goslings is that their feet give them away, reveal them as the creatures they'll be when they get much bigger.