Sun Bath

Dazzling sunlight after much rain-- falling down and pounding the mulch in the garden out front so the red cedar has spattered the foundation. Two snakes came out to enjoy the sun by the rocks on the wetlands crossing- one a garter snake, the other quickly identifiable by the bright yellow vertical stripes on his black body.
The ribbon snake, moved his head side to side, hypnotizing some prey I could not see, perhaps. When my shadow moved across his body, he slithered off and plummeting into the water below.

Shadows

The woods surrounding our home are full of the voices of birds. The canopy is so thick in the summer we rarely seen them, but we hear them.

There are shadows, too. Yesterday morning before we left for Vermont to attend Solarfest, I could see passing shadows, darkening spots on the grass in the front of the house. Turkey vultures. Unlike the song birds that hide in the green of the trees and only flit now and then across open spaces, these large dark brown birds take to the skies on sunny windy days, riding the currents back and forth scanning the ground for food.

The Turtle

One lucky evening – as I drove over our crossing, I spotted a brown lump making its way across the sand. A turtle! We had seen a huge snapping turtle basking in the sun one day some days before on the rock in the middle of our pond, but before I ran up to the house to get the camera, we had frightened him off when he became aware of our presence.
This time I was prepared. I had my pocket camera in my bag. I got out of the car and signaled my husband to come down from the top of the drive where he was outside working. However, it was no huge snapping turtle and the turtle withdrew into its small shell. It’s neck was streaked with yellow bands and the under quarters of its shell were solid yellow. Probably a painted turtle? My husband suggested we put it by the pond, the direction it was headed. It pee-ed on me twice as I carried it--maybe a defense mechanism?
As soon as one foot touched the pond water, it made a dash into the pond. Only a few bubbles which surfaced behind it, indicated where it was as it quickly made its way to the muddy bottom.

The Earth is Pushing Up Daisies

Daisies are everywhere this summer. It’s been a while since I have seen so many daisies. Last year I don’t remember having seen any on the property. Now they are in the fields, forests, alongside the driveway and in the garden. Why? I am not sure, but it made me think of the idiomatic expression: “Pushing up daisies.” I did a little research and found out the expression was recorded as first being used in a poem about Word War I: “Be dead and buried, as in There is a cemetery full of heroes pushing up daisies. This slangy expression, alluding to flowers growing over a grave, was first recorded about 1918, in one of Wilfred Owen's poems about World War I.” Perhaps the daisies are a message for us.