Hawks on a Light Standard

... I am looking west to the mountains ...

I try to keep my eyes on the sidewalk when I am walking in the early morning.

But I have to look up for the traffic light when I get to the corner of Crowchild and 24th Avenue.

By the time I had my camera out of my pocket, on this particular morning, so many hawks had lined up along the light standard that I was starting to laugh outloud.

One by one they would land there, all facing the same way, hopping a bit this way or that, to give or take room at the top of the pole.

... now only one hawk left ...

This seems to be the corner of my community that I have taken on as a one-person clean up. 

There is a road beggar who works this corner just between 4 pm and 5 pm, as employees are leaving the university and stopping at this light.  In his hand he holds a sign, written in crayon on a piece of cardboard from a packing box, "Hungry. Homeless.  God bless".

Some of the drivers give him money. Others bring food -- which he may or may not want.  When I look down at the bottom of the light standard, I see where he places what he has no use for:  half a sandwich still bagged, 2 apples and an orange, maybe a juice box, some veggies that have been cut and wrapped, and bits of loose change.

I love this little corner -- for its ups and downs.

Arta