Blue Heron

Today since I didn't have to drive to work, I decided to visit Bethel Beach.

I parked my car and jog-walked three and a half miles.

On my way back to the car, I spotted this fellow.  

(Or gal, I don't know which and have no idea how to tell.)

Luckily, I had my camera in the car, and he was still hanging around when I drove back out.

The past few weekends have been very busy.  Middle Sister and I went to the Gloucester Wine Festival a few weekends back.  Last weekend, I drove to Dewey Beach, Delaware, to visit my two college friends.  (On the way home Chesapeake Bay Woman was trapped for five and a half hours on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel--on a bridge in between the two tunnels--due to an accident.  I could write a novel on that experience alone.) Anyway, this past weekend, Baby Sis and I drove to Louisa, Virginia, to see the band Ambrosia play at a gala for the Louisa Arts Center.  This weekend I'll be headed over that Bay Bridge Tunnel yet again to visit Ocean City, MD, with a friend.

In between, I'm making that soul-sucking long commute to work each day, trying to figure out how I can stay at home and make enough money to make ends meet.  Alas, I have six years and three months--but who's counting besides me--before I'm eligible to retire.

In any case, I've been trying to enjoy life in the free time that I do have. 

Today's trip to Bethel Beach and the brief photo op with this blue heron were just what I needed.

Have a great week.

Heron

This heron lives

and wades 

and fishes 

on Callis Creek in Redart.  

I caught him recently searching for supper amid the local oyster operation.

All is as busy as--if not busier than--ever in my world.

I hope all is well in yours.

Heron

Well, here it is the last day of May, and all I have to say is, where has the month gone?  

It seems like there was one sunny day, when I managed to see this heron across the creek.  

And then the rest of the days it rained.

(Please disregard the strange object in the upper left corner of these two photos.  Not only am I a self-taught photographer, I still haven't mastered use of my new camera, which is immensely smarter than I am.)

Yes, the month of May flew by in a blur of wind and rain interspersed with a day or two of the normal sunny, warm, gorgeous clarity that is typical this time of year.  Whether it's due to the rain or I don't know what, we've noticed the stinging nettles have arrived much sooner than normal.  There are tons of baby nettles lounging about in Queens Creek.  They normally don't make an appearance until late June.  Farm-grown oysters are growing at a very rapid pace, and there are way more snakes than usual for whatever reason this year.

Aside from those casual observations from this unscientific observer, life is whizzing by at break-neck speed.  I am looking forward to something settling down soon, but until it does I take solace in staring out the back window at sights such as these for instant blood-pressure-lowering relief.

Heron

Wednesday evening, after a day filled with non-stop This and That and Then Some, I gave myself permission to sit down on the back deck for a minute or twenty as the sun was going down.

On the neighbor-across-the-creek's dock post, after a day filled with fishing, wading, preening, squawking, and his own version of This and That and Then Some, a heron was doing the same thing.

Giving himself permission to just sit.

And be.

Friends from my office visited me in Mathews recently and confirmed that just sitting and being in my back yard is all that's needed to reduce blood pressure.

(I didn't need a reminder, it's just nice to hear from new people.)

Of course Regular Life insists on sucking every bit of everything right out of me reminding me that it can't be all about sitting and staring for even twenty minutes! all the time.

I found out this week that I'll need to have my stupid gall bladder removed  some minor surgery soon, potentially during one of my busiest times at work.

Whatever.

The heron reminds me it's important to stop and sit sometimes.

And just be.

Wader Too

Miller Cove on Queens Creek is the social hub of blue heron activity in the neighborhood.

Except, socially, herons are socially awkward actually textbook introverts, preferring to do their own thing in the peace, quiet and solitude that, for example, Miller Cove ordinarily brings.

The younger herons, lacking that life experience that brings cynicism and a slightly jaded outlook on mingling with others, trot casually along the shoreline even when that shoreline is in close proximity to a strange person with a camera in a brightly colored kayak .

High-steppin'

I've never seen anything other than a full-grown heron on Queens Creek.  By the time they are wading within eyesight of my back deck, they're big, big, big  birds.

But last night on Facebook, blog friend LLC shared this photo  of a baby heron.  

I want to adopt a whole nest of baby herons but realize logically herons are not ever up for adoption.  Plus once they come into teenagerhood, the drama just wouldn't be worth it.  So I'll just admire them in all stages of life from afar. It's the right thing to do.

Thanks, LLC, for the glimpse at heron infancy.

Have a great weekend.






 

Heron

Sunday afternoon I arrived home from yet another fiftieth birthday celebration, this time for my friend Laura Lane.  Several high school friends converged on an oceanfront hotel in Virginia Beach, and my college roommate Iris also was in town for her daughter's volleyball game.  There was lots of fun and frivolity, but not a lot of rest and sleep. There also didn't appear to be much behavior typically associated with fifty-year-olds.  One of the two rooms we were in was visited by the hotel security guard, who issued a warning for noise.

(Please note, I was not in that particular room.  I was as quiet as a church mouse.  Well, a more accurate statement is at the time the warning was issued, I was dancing the night away downstairs in the hotel lounge. So, for the record, I was not in violation of any hotel policies.)

A n y w a y... this heron spent the better part of  Sunday afternoon lollygagging on this pole across the creek from me.

At times he looked like a one-legged heron--especially from the angle below.

But eventually I caught him standing on both legs.

My own two legs are a little sore from Saturday night's dancing.  I view it as cross training for some upcoming races, one of which is a 10K on Valentines Day at a local winery. (Click here for details.)  I can't think of a better motivation to exercise than chocolate and wine.

And I can't think of a better cross-training exercise than dancing with lifelong friends in the middle of January in an oceanfront hotel in Virginia Beach.

Have a great week.

Kayaking

Last Saturday night, Baby Sis came for a visit, and we went out for a ride in the kayaks.

She donned her sun-brero, and we both marveled at the instant peace 

and tranquility that comes with barely skimming the surface of Queens Creek.

We took a spin down the cove which really needs to be renamed

 Heron's Cove--since a heron sighting is almost guaranteed every visit.

Both Middle Sister and Baby Sis will be in town this weekend for Market Days. 
  

I'm looking forward to seeing them.


Have a wonderful weekend.

Heron

This heron was fishing for his dinner on Queens Creek Saturday night.

He strolled up and down the shoreline very methodically, very patiently.

This particular patch of shoreline is pretty popular with the local wildlife; 

evidently it's a good hunting spot.

Several evenings I've watched a raccoon wading here at low tide.

Aside from stalking this heron, I didn't do much this weekend.

I"m still struggling to acclimate myself to No Longer On Vacation mode.

And bracing for Son's departure for college in less than two weeks.

Speaking of Son, his 19th birthday is Wednesday.  When he was a baby and I was struggling with my new role of mother, I very distinctly remember going for a walk and seeing a neighborhood teenager.  Back then, every day felt like a year; I wasn't accustomed to being around babies and had no idea really what I was doing.  When I saw that teen, I remember thinking how long it was going to take for my baby to become one.

It didn't really take that long after all.

Sigh.

Herondipity

This heron was perched in a pine tree near Smither's Cemetery, across the creek from my house, a couple of weekends ago.  I happened to catch a glimpse of him as he was soaking in the last rays of the day's sun.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Field of Egret

A few weeks ago on an overcast day, I stopped at the intersection of Potato Neck 

and Bethel Beach roads to snap a few pictures of these daffodils.

The cheerful yellow flowers were trying so hard to smile amid the grayness of the gloomy day.

As much as I wanted to focus on the flowers, something pulled me in another direction.

I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I was drawn to the field just beyond where I was parked.

Something was amiss.

What's that white thing on the left?

A lone egret was wandering rather aimlessly through the vast field.

He was none too pleased that I wanted to take his picture either.

As soon as he saw what I was doing, he high-tailed it in the other direction.

(I tried not to be offended.)

The last I saw, he was headed on foot towards those woods.

I can't say I've ever seen an egret in a field like this before, however it is common to see herons hunting in the ditches along the edges of the road.  Sadly, I recently found a dead heron in the middle of the road where I jog.  At first I thought it was a buzzard, but the long pointed beak gave it away.  On that same jog, which takes me through some very remote areas of the county, I startled a group of seven herons out of the tippy tops of a stand of pine trees.  I can't say that I've ever seen seven herons together before, much less flying.

Flying away from me, to be exact.

I'm starting to get a complex.

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Enjoy the weekend.

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