Summit in the Stone Basin

I hauled myself over the scalloped stone rim right into the wide, shallow basin of the birdbath! Twilight was settling across the garden, but the thick cast concrete was still radiating the afternoon's absorbed heat like a giant warming plate. Right across the dry center lay a large, curled brown magnolia leaf, dished out like an alpine bivouac shell. I nudged the sturdy stem flush against a patch of dry lichen, unclipped my backpack, and slid boots-first into the smooth curved hollow. With the stone rim blocking the breezy dusk drafts and the open sky directly above, doesn't an elevated birdbath make the grandest night camp in the yard?