Bear With Us

We have just returned from western North Carolina where we enjoyed a quick, extended weekend. As we wandered in and out of shops in the town of Hendersonville, we could not help but notice the life-sized bear sculptures.  This one was outside the ice cream shop.

This one in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts was near the Mast General Store.

This one, with the tools of a goldsmith, was outside the jewelry store.

This one was outside an antique shop.

And this one was outside a sports bar.

 I am sure there were more that we missed, but this gives a sampling. 

If You Come to a Fork in the Road....

Our son used to joke, "If  you come to a fork in the road, take it!"

As we hiked on a Sunday, the fork we came to was in a pine.

Pines aren't known for branched trunks, so it caught our eyes.

Mailbox Monday: Go, Go Gadget Plow

It is an illusion. The fence behind the mailbox is not actually connected to the plow,  but it looks to be and reminds me of Inspector Gadget's extending arm. If it were so, it could make for a shorter walk to the  mailbox and newspaper box, which might be convenient on snowy, winter days on this North Carolina hillside.

An Interesting Pair of Gators

It was a reptile afternoon on our drive to the lighthouse. We saw two snakes in the road, two bigger than plate-sized turtles and eight gators at the refuge.

As with the last time we were down there, the setting sun set the grasses ablaze and it reflected in the water. It was hard to miss these two gators enjoying the last of the day's rays. The one on the right was a true monster: a huge gator. The one on the left was partially concealed in the grass, so it could have been as large as the other.

Here is a shot zooming in closer.

At home, looking at the pictures on the computer, we made two more observations. 

The monster had bloody spots around its mouth. It could be that a) it had recently been to the dentist and had some teeth pulled, or, b) it forgot to wipe its mouth after dinner.

And check out the claw!

The second observation was that the other gator appears to have only one eye---its right one. If you click on the picture, it should enlarge for you to see it better.

Sometimes when the tide is out, the gator trails can be very clearly marked. We sometimes can see their foot tracks as well as where they have dragged their wide bodies across the mud.

So you would do well, Reddish Egret, to keep watch. Even gators with one eye will eat birds that stand on one leg.

The Plea of the Pita

B showed me this pita chip. It seemed to say, "Don't eat me!"

How could you possibly eat a chip like that?

Show-Off Sweetgum

On Sunday, we went to a fundraising event at Birdsong Nature Center. We hiked the woodland trails for a couple of miles. Mostly, we saw early fall colors but this one small sweetgum off the trail in the distance, refused to be missed as it was quite the show-off peeking out from  behind the charred pine. This is one of the early plantations that has long practiced fire ecology and regularly burns areas to better manage their forests.

Storm Clouds Over High Cotton

We took a little wander down some South Georgia dirt roads and came  upon this beautiful cotton field.

The storm clouds were gathering and, on the way home, it flat out poured rain on us.

Maybe Not

"Renew, reuse and recycle" is the catch phrase we know and love. But, "refind" wine?

Was their writer also a sampler?

Mailbox Monday: Cow in Boots

In the Pink

So all the talk now is about wearing pink to support breast cancer efforts. Not long ago, we were down at St. Marks when the eastern sky (and even the water) turned pink. It reminded me of a miracle: water into rose'.

The western sky was not so subtle--much more dramatic and tropical in color. Papaya juice flowing all  over the sky and into the marsh pools.

Maybe I was thirsty.

The Heat-Seeking Ghost Horse

It has been unseasonably cool this Halloween week, with temperatures starting at forty degrees Fahrenheit.   One day as I was driving my country roads to school, something in the early morning darkness caught my eye. A further glance revealed an old, white, sway-back  horse standing on a small mound of earth on the far west side of the pasture. It stood there as if it knew that that would be the first piece of ground where the sun would shine as it rose, and it had claimed it.