11/23/2015
My Sunday afternoon walk: It was a beautiful, crisp, fall afternoon; so I put on my coat, ear buds, and nice warm boots, grabbed my camera and set out to see what the day had in store for me. Listening to nature set my path; A beautiful, shiny, big black crow called to me to follow him. He flew to the back yard where I found him cawing to his friends. Flitting from tree to tree until they left me alone. However, looking into the trees made me realize how one cold night had created the lovely colors of fall in the different species of trees. Orange and gold mixed with the greens…and little bits of red here and there. I found a mockingbird snuggled and puffed up, trying to keep warm in the bows of the orange, fringed cypress tree. This made me search the tree tops for more feathered friends. I found a couple of blue birds high in the boughs of a tall oak tree and the finches had found the feeders, along with black capped chickadees, purple finches, nuthatches and a few woodpeckers. Hoping to get a glimpse of the Wood ducks I started out. Everything I passed was in it’s fall wardrobe. The pampas grass blooms, lovely tufts of cream, danced in the light breeze and played with the light in front of the neighbors home. The crackle of the new fallen leaves sounded so nice, but I so wanted to walk silently, hoping to see a deer or a glimpse of a wood duck. The little pond behind the damn didn’t hold any ducks, but was still, and reflected the beautiful blue sky and the patterns of the trees mixed with the bright green moss on its surface. A few steps revealed the huge, amazing piece of bark that had fallen from a dead tree. Long and curved, almost boat like. Just beyond, a large turtle shell. One of the largest I’ve ever found, not yet bleached white by the weather and sun. The trails through the woods and the little streams of water cutting this way and that through the woods left behind rivets of sand dusted with new fallen leaves; providing a perfect pallet for the foot prints of the animals that has passed before me. Raccoons, deer, and maybe those of a fox…at least that what I want to believe. I can just see it in my minds eye. I found persimmons kissed by the nights frost, now ready to eat. As I neared the lake I could hear the sounds of the ducks with the sweet rattle and quacks. I found them gliding through the smooth, glassy waters near the shore, darting in and out of the vegetation flooded by the last rains. Mallards, took flight and splashed down a little farther out. I sat on the pier, watching the only pair of Mallards that had remained. They seemed to know I was no threat. Nearby a Junco darted into the cage, already baited to catch ferrel hogs. It stole away with a piece of the corn. The smell of smoke from a fire, probably from a neighbors fireplace caught my attention. I turned to see the late afternoon sun rays streaming through the trees and the low hanging smoke, creating a paining of light. About this time a Heron took flight with their usual scream causing the Mallards to take flight again. I turned to start for the pond and a turtle was sunning himself on the bank in the afternoon sun. He didn’t seem to notice me as I took his photograph. I walked for home. As I neared the pond I spotted Harry the resident Great Blue Heron…sleepily standing on his favorite stump with a zig zag of bubbles on the surface of the water beside him. He sightly took flight, with is long span, his wing tips cutting through the smooth water once or twice, then came to rest on the opposite side of the pond. As the sun slipped lower into the western sky, sitting behind trees I heard the sound of a barred owl with his who cooks for you, who cooks for you. I waked for home. I hope some of the photographs I took today are worthy of what I saw.
