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November Splendor
I’m engaging in a personal restoration project. For some reason, I can drift away from the things that bring me joy: walks, photography, playing the piano, journaling, even reading for pleasure. When I finished my master’s thesis years ago, I recall coming out of the exam and thinking, “I don’t have to study. Now I can do whatever I want!” But this was immediately followed by a sense of blank. I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to do!
It’s easy to sink into the daily routines and “tyranny of the urgent” and forget what energizes us. I’m trying to climb back out of such a place by incorporating those simple pleasures. Yesterday I took a walk at a nearby park, and even though the world seems barren and colorless in this season, I was reminded that beauty remains — and what color there is, is more potent against its largely monochromatic surroundings.
The gathering of trees to the left has always been in flux. It’s in a low spot and often floods; the trees’ shallow root systems have yielded a number of the company over time, as the stumps attest.
But it’s still lovely. The girls and I dubbed it “Buttercup Hollow” one spring years ago, but an entish name would be equally appropriate.
Dead leaves, rust-colored brush and bare trees. . . yet against the chilly blue sky, it doesn’t look blah. The subtle shades and textures are highlighted.
Lucy, in constant motion and always interested in the odors, is in her element. She’s getting older too — just turned 12 — but she’s still always ready for an outing.
The stream brings back memories of my children searching for crayfish, minnows, and rocks to throw for the dog — as well as one homemade boat that was tested in this stream.
I wouldn’t want to go in today!
The fallen tree to the left is new and serves as a reminder that the elements of any natural scene are temporary. But the overall impression isn’t of death, but serene beauty.
This trail is marked by plantings. We helped put in a few of them at this park when the girls were in 4H. They’re supposed to prevent erosion, and some of them seem to flourish. But I’ve never seen them freed from their little green tubes! Who’s allowed to take them off? Who decides when?
Still, they provide a neat border, as well as define a yellow-brick-road style path inscribed on the landscape. We followed it out to the end of our “little explore.”
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Where’s Waldo, Woodland Version
There are many tiny things to notice on walks — like this tiny frog. Things you don’t see unless you’re looking.
Damselfly The thing is to be attentively present. . . What is to be known is always there. When it reveals itself to you, or when you come upon it, it is by chance. The only condition is your being there and being watchful. (Wendell Berry, “The Long-Legged House”)
Carolina Wren -
Porcupine
At first glimpse, it looked like a huge nest – a large, dark, plump blob high in a tree… yet shaped like an animal.
But a second look (with the telephoto lens) revealed it to be a porcupine!
It’s the first I’ve ever seen in the wild.
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Hummingbird Moth
This week, I saw a hummingbird moth in my flower garden. I was watering and didn’t have a camera, and I’ve been hoping to see it again.
I haven’t. But yesterday, as my daughter and I started out on a walk at a nearby preserve, we saw not one but TWO of these amazing creatures. This time, I had my camera.
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Pond Dwellers
Visiting the local pond, we were greeted by this affable green frog.
He looks like he’s wearing a medal. Maybe that explains the sense of security he radiated.
We noted a whole crew of young wood ducks, grown by leaps and bounds since we last saw them. They whistled quietly to each other as they sailed by.
Naturally, we saw — and were observed by — some wary green herons. Such a combination of vivid beauty and drollery! Everything about them seems exaggerated somehow, from the shape and coloration of head and beak, to the expressive eyes, to the stubby tails, to the harsh cries. They always make me smile.
I absolutely love them.
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I love wrens, but…
…nesting in our window air conditioner?
Apparently this isn’t all that unusual for Carolina wrens, but I feel I should avoid using the A/C while she’s feeding young, and it’ll need cleaning out. The unit is in a bedroom window, and I’m only now hearing them regularly — little fluttering sounds and very small, reedy voices whenever the parent arrives to feed.
Wrens keep their nests clean by carrying away the nestlings’ waste, which comes in these membrane packets. A wren nabbed a moth literally at my feet as I sat on the patio yesterday, and I registered for the first time that it was making many trips in the direction of that window. In fact, the female is back and forth every few minutes to feed, so it won’t be long before the little fuzzballs fledge. The male sings nearby all day long, swelling with pride.
I grabbed a few pictures of a feeding this morning.
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Summer Afternoon
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A little piece of Paradise
The zinnias are blooming, so there’s always something to see.
A few mornings ago as I was checking on the container gardens, a sudden lurch and swaying of stems revealed a bunny leaping away. The zinnias are 4 feet tall now, and the little rabbit had apparently been chilling in the coolness at their roots, perhaps snacking on some of the pigweed (to which he’s welcome).
Butterflies and hummingbirds feast there too.
Giant Swallowtail 
Monarch (and bee) 
Monarch 
Monarch shooing a bee This morning when I looked out the window, I saw a bird on the picnic table I’d observed last night and thought it was a wren. It’s not.
Waterthrush I think it’s a Louisiana Waterthrush. There’s also a Northern Waterthrush, but it has more yellow than this one.
Waterthrush Our back yard isn’t very large or fancy, but it gives us a front row seat on so many of the other interesting inhabitants of the neighborhood. It’s become an important part of our lives and brings us a lot of joy.
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Mr. Carolina Wren Greets the Morning
When this little bird lets loose his exuberant song, what often comes to mind is E.E. Cummings’s poem:
i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes . . .
What he’s actually saying is, “TEA-kettle TEA-kettle TEA!” He shouts it out year-round in the morning with great exuberance, then looks around appreciatively.
He’s one of our favorite backyard neighbors.
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Returning to the Outer Banks
The ocean with its awesome scale and mystery, the Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo with their cultivated beauty, and the eerie tropics of Kitty Hawk Woods (visited for the first time) all contributed to our enjoyment of the variety the Outer Banks environment has to offer.
