MY CAMERA MADE IT OUT

You thought I wasn't going to be posting as much? I thought so too. But I seem to have overdone it--duh--so found myself in bed this morning all sore with a dull headache. (OK, the "dull head" is something I was born with, but the sore muscles are DEFINITELY witness to good, honest work!)

Anyway, last week, when the temperatures went down at least a few hours in the early mornings, I had gone down to the river to look at some wildlife and not posted any of it due to all this other stuff going on, so here's a little bit:

I wanted to see if my favorite hibiscus was still where it was several years ago. The popular hibiscus is a large, bright, red one; I've fallen in love with a tiny, dainty one that hangs upside down with streaks of white, kinda looks like a tiny valentine for someone on walks, I think, not a healthy bloom to be plucked and placed behind the ear...IT WAS STILL THERE! On a future post, I want to tell you about Senchi, a friend I made there.

There were waterfowl here before...no Swamp Pigeon (only pretty pigeon on nearby post)...but I saw an egret! It had flown quite a ways from the congregating place downriver, I knew. An old poster told of hunt for a snapping turtle nearby, but all I could see in the river were little carp...wait...THAT WAS A TURTLE HEAD--THEY HADN'T CAUGHT IT YET!

"I kinda don't think they ever will," a yellow flower seemed to say. Flowers don't talk, I told myself, and looked again. It was a pretty dragonfly. Butterflies were still around, but most dragonflies were gone by Oct. "Please don't run away. You're so pretty! I thought you were a flower--one of those yellow spears!" I knew I'd get feverish if I didn't go home soon so headed back.

I'm going to have to start to learn the name for the wildlife I see everyday. The first photograph looks like tiny peaches, but I KNOW they're not. And the red flowers bloom all over the place, and I just call them "those red flowers" and Kinya knows which ones I'm talking about.

ROOM FOR ONE MORE?

2 years ago, I remember thinking, AHA! I'd found two mallards hidden in the grass, and began sketching them. But their half dozen ducklings saw and wanted to be drawn too so surprised me by coming out of hiding. Adult caretaker mallards also came, so before I knew it, I needed to draw 10 birds. Dragonflies flying by wanted to know what was going on and perched on the reeds--2 more critters needed to be drawn. 2 basking turtles seemed to comment I had a big job to do. I found myself saying, NO MORE VACANCY!

When I went to the same place today, at first, I saw two turtles, a carp, and a white butterfly. I decided to do the sketch, but as I was finishing, a tiny spider crawled up the boulder near me, so I drew him on the boulder near the carp...then I saw a tiny hatchling on a rock behind that boulder. so added him. After I drew the outlines of the background, another turtle climbed up on that center boulder. I managed to squeeze him in behind the first turtle.

Whew. As I was about to go home, 2 more dragonflies came! Maybe tomorrow, I told them. On the way home, I saw a mallard at Step Creek. (He was one of the first 2 in the grass.) He probably sat there and chuckled at what he saw, thinking, it's happening again.

Aren't you glad God always has room for one more?