Nest

A squirrel nest, I think. It's high in the cottonwood tree that the beaver took a fresh chunk out of just before we got here. So far, the tree is leafin out OK and the leaves aren't wilting; yet, I wonder if it will show the damage when the hot weather comes. They have some pretty hot weather here in the Treasure Valley. Someone told me that squirrels put leaves on the outside of nests, but crows don't. At least, that's how I remember it, it may be the other way round.
Ah, memory.
We just watched an old PBS documentary about Hugh Everett, the man who created the (quantum mechanics) theory of parallel universes, as his son, Mark, the leader of a band called Eels, searches for understanding and memories. The father was a pretty weird genius, with a family history of bipolar/depression and the son only a little less weird, only in a non-mathematical sense. His only sibling, a girl, left a suicide note that mentioned that she was going to join their father in a parallel universe. At least, that's what I thought he said, the information came out during a conversation with a couple who knew his parents years ago, pried out by the woman's interested question because of the bipolar people in her own family, and was so quick and mumbled that I missed it when I saw the end of this documentary a year ago.
My own father was much more present for me than Everett. Still, going through papers after my mother's death, I was surprised to find some papers he wrote and addresses he gave during his early years at General Electric. I knew he was well-respected and always earned a good living, but I hadn't realized he made such a splash. It was nice to know, and sad, too--the way the trajectories of life often are. Good night!