Musings

The sun appears.

Sometime later, I watched a busy bee.

I took a beach walk, and ventured beyond the point.

On my return and strolling the beach, I heard squawking above, looked up and saw no branches and caught the sound of departing birds. When my head was tipped back, I heard a plop at my feet. Looking down, I saw this critter scramble into the water, swim a meter or so away from me, then pause, I assumed to catch his/her breath, or whatever frogs do. After a moment, the critter kicked twice to reach the shallows, shown here. Did I startle the bird enough that it dropped the frog? That’s my hypothesis.

Posted at 9:30 PM | Comments Off on Astonishing moment

True, it was low-light (although it doesn’t look like it), but that bee was SPEEDY!

Posted at 9:00 PM | Comments Off on Just before dusk

This has nothing to do with the picture or my personal events of the day, but recently I discovered (or, probably, was reminded) that the loons of North America are called divers in the British Isles. [This is another example of common name confusion.]

Posted at 8:08 PM | Comments Off on Diverse divers

Surprise (sarcastically): these milkweed pods are infested with…milkweed bugs.

Posted at 8:46 PM | Comments Off on Paired common names

Swans and the old fire tower, closed to the public the last time I walked by it several years ago.

Reflections on still water….

Posted at 9:12 PM | Comments Off on Refuge drive

I hypothesize that these are the same two fawns we saw yesterday, here visiting in the early afternoon. And I saw them again several hours later in the same spot.

We’ve been seeing these distinctive footprints on the beach by the dozen…finally figured out they’re made by wild turkeys…which I have neither seen nor heard around the property.

Posted at 8:26 PM | 2 Comments »

I visited the beach early enough that I sent Mama Loon and at least eight offspring zipping into the safety of deep water. Always love to hear loon calls and to see the birds.

Posted at 8:06 PM | Comments Off on Early bonus

Sunrise. Still humid, hence the haze.

Surprise fish at the shore. Don’t know what kind; not leech!

Illustration of growing apples and apple green, highlighted by the low morning light.

Posted at 7:30 PM | Comments Off on Early beach visit

Did that title catch your eye? What I mean is that the humidity and murkiness evident first thing in the morning (here), and obscuring the far shore, heralded in a hot, moist day, good for reading and low-key activities all afternoon. And sipping ice water…that kind of day-drinking.

My morning beach tour became a leech-hunting expedition. I found the Garish Green Sand Shovel mostly buried in the uppper-beach sand on my first tour. It’s perfect for leech-tossing. The storminess of previous days sent lots of the boneless critters toward the beach, where I pitched them onto the beach, then tossed them to the off-beach vegetation. I returned a bit later to get a second harvest, as I found so many on the first visit. I think the total was two dozen. No lie.

Posted at 5:59 PM | Comments Off on Day drinking

Our cottage sun-up is delayed by the woods. This was at 7:12am, and filtered through an apple tree.

Midday, I was out assessing the rhubarb crop, and found this grey treefrog hanging in the shade.

When I returned later to do the picking, it had relocated. I picked eight stalks, and took the resulting rhubarb sauce to a potluck next door, along with some boughten (as my child-self would have called it) ice cream. Success!

Returning from socializing at 10pm, I had to photograph the moonrise. Note a few pixels of reflection off the lake through the trees.

Posted at 10:24 PM | Comments Off on A very good day