My pigeons hop right up in my lap now, falling over each other in their greed, and eat out of my hand. Still, they're hard to like, these brainless birds. I'd prefer sparrows, but the pigeons crowd them out. On the way to the wifi each morning I pass some doves. Doves are upper middle class pigeons, the Starbuck's set as compared to the desperadoes who hang out at the Café Cabaret (my wifi). They have their own agenda and aren't interested in my birdseed.

The jacaranda trees have all but finished shedding their purple blooms, and are nearly naked. Metaphorically speaking, the days of wine and roses are over and now you get to see her without her makeup. The result of all that frenzied mating? Some eerie Body Snatchers-looking seedpods dangling on long stems. These odd, dangling, suitcase-like “pod people,” will, I guess, fall to the ground—or rather the sidewalk—and the birds then will do their part in spreading the ever-popular jacaranda throughout the world.

After a tremendous struggle and the expert technical aid of a dear friend I finally succeeded in getting my blog to register at Goodreads. But along the way I discovered that the glitches were not all my fault or theirs. A problem locally, for many Internet users, has been that of hungry chipmunks gnawing the insulation off the wires. Nearly every night, in fact, I hear their little feet scampering on my roof. But the problems are not confined to Los Angeles, or even to the US, as I learned through my recent research. Severe weather conditions at Internet Relay Stations around the globe contribute heavily to the difficulties, and living conditions at these outposts are little short of harrowing. Recently I got a rather touching email from a young man named Sergei Kazakov who operates a Relay Station in a remote area of the Ukraine, accessible only by helicopter or troika. This courageous and dedicated young guy spends six months at a stretch in a 500-foot tower on top of a mountain peak, subsisting mostly on borscht, vodka, Russian rye bread and farshyrovannye iaitsa (Russian stuffed eggs). A typical chore: he goes out in a howling blizzard with a pair of special felt gloves and cleans off the ice that’s clinging to the wires. Hats off to Sergei Kazakov and other diligent workers who keep the Internet going!

The Walking Lady breezed right by me for three days straight and never said hello, so I figured she “wanted to be alone.” As I approached People’s Park today I saw her up ahead surrounded by pigeons, so I held back, not wanting to invade her space. When she took off I proceeded to the park and fed the pigeons, and I thought, “Maybe she thinks I’m trying to take her pigeons away from her.” When I left the park I saw her coming toward me, headed back in the other direction, and I prepared to be ignored. But, surprise, she said good morning as she cruised past me with those long loping strides of hers. It’s not that I have a crush on the Walking Lady or anything like that. It’s just that we both seem to be “Johnny Appleseed” types, and that resonates big time with me.

I busted a pair of catbirds just outside the wifi. I’d suspected that their nest was in a leafy little tree near the patio because I’d seen them disappearing into that tree again and again. So I approach the tree and sure enough, the two of them come swooping down from a light post squawking and trying to distract me, a stupid move because it confirmed the location of their nest. Obviously, I’m not going to do anything—I’m strictly a spectator—but these birds were overconfident or simply careless in building their nest so close to the ground as well as so close to a human habitat.

The clouds of pigeons that follow me through the streets are a reality check. I very often have the sensation that I am invisible, but if these birds recognize me—and they do, because I feed them—then it follows that my image resides in the tiny pea-brain of each of these brainless birds, and therefore I MUST EXIST!

My sprouter arrived by UPS today! I’ve been sprouting for years in old pickle jars, but I decided after all this time to go first class, so I got the EasySprouter from SproutPeople for $14. Now everything’s going to be nice and clean and aesthetic-like. I’ve got my favorite mixture going, or rather growing: broccoli, radish, red clover and alfalfa. They all mature at about the same speed. As we know, plants are sentient beings, so I talk to my sprouts and play music for them—and then I eat them.

Amanda Seyfried knocks it out of the park in the new DVD movie, “Chloe,” with Neeson and Julianne Moore. Seyfried’s character is a high-class whore hired by Moore to test her husband and learn if he will cheat on her. Chloe (Seyfried) reports back to Moore with steamy stories, which, very much like a writer, she invents and half believes. Moore’s character buys into the stories and although outraged, she gets very worked up as she experiences vicarious imaginary sex with her husband (Neeson)! Interesting characters and great performances, especially by Seyfried, who is manipulative, vulnerable, erotic and creepy, all at the same time.

Blazing hot this morning, so when I stopped in the little park on the way to the wifi I scattered the pigeons' birdseed right on my bench so that when they hopped up next to me I got a nice breeze from their wings.

My kimchi turned out so-so. Not enough garlic and ginger. Last time it was too much. Also I put in an apple this time. Don’t think I’ll do that again. It sort of “smoothed out” the taste. I’m not saying it wasn’t good this time. And it’s always better after it cures a few days in the fridge. I usually ferment for three days at room temperature to give the microbes a chance to do their thing, then refrigerate. Currently my ingredients are: Napa cabbage, green onions, garlic, ginger root, Korean hot pepper flakes, salt and water.

Need character names? My characters all based on people I’ve known, never imaginary, but I still need names for them. I check my spam folder every morning and read through the fake names. If one of them jumps out at me, I copy it down and stick it in my “character names” folder. Today I “harvested” Gabrielle Langford, Isaac Barr and Tasha Salgado. So if you’re a writer…

I saw the Walking Lady this morning but she was petting a guy’s dog and didn’t notice me as I walked past. It turns out that she feeds dogs as well as birds. A real Earth Mother. A little farther along I met a “quality woman” with an enormous prancing poodle on a leash. That thing was manicured, with no end of pompoms and filigrees and poodle puffs and the like. I heard a voice in my head say, “What a magnificent creature!” I was pretty sure the voice didn’t mean me, so I stepped aside as the two of them approached, then caught a whiff of both the grande dame’s and the grand dog’s perfume as they left me in their wake.

The pigeons know me now. When they see me coming they flock around. I’m learning to recognize individual pigeons, but I’m really not all that crazy about them. Greedy, strutting, more than a little ridiculous, they remind me of human beings. Sparrows are my favorites. They’re the common soldiers of the bird world in their drab brown uniforms, scrounging for anything they can get, always cheerful and incredibly brave.

Another confab with the Walking Lady this morning on the way to the wifi. We compared birdseed. I've got the right stuff--sunflower seeds. It's always fascinated me that some birds eat small stones that end up in the gizzard and help to grind up the seeds they swallow whole. The pigeons and sparrows I feed gobble up my sunflower seeds as fast as they can. This isn't any leisurely lunch! They have to get any available food down as fast as possible or go hungry. Then, later on, the gizzard can do its thing. It's a beautiful system.