At least, I'm thinking these will be the last of the really flukey hot days. It's been gorgeous all week, thankfully, because none of of us are really ready for Serious Fall Weather. I'm still clinging grimly to my sockless wardrobe attire. Today we wore sleeveless clothing, worked a bit in the garden ("In Which Sheila Transplants A Japanese Maple When She Really Shouldn't and Discovers That She Really and Truly Hates Bishop's Weed"), hung the laundry outside to dry in the morning sun (it dried in an hour!), and then, because we were all at rather desultory loose ends, went for a walk.We live near a secluded nature sanctuary, so we went there to do the loop around the lake. And no, don't listen to people who tell you that it's a swamp. It is a lake. A small bird-bug-amphibian-filled lake.
Harumph.
The first thing we noticed were the grasshoppers. They do this every year at this time, and today I was glad to have the camera handy. Can you see what this one-legged wonder is doing?
Hint: I'm humming The Circle Of Life from The Lion King in your ear right now...
No wonder it's one-legged: there are many brisk walkers traversing these paths and I don't see many of them leaping and shrieking and gasping "Watch out for that grasshopper!" the way that FDPG and Dominic do.
It was sublimely peaceful to walk across the bridge, even if the silence was continually punctuated by Max and Dominic experimenting with reasons for why jogging was not allowed on the floating boardwalk...Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
The other thing we noticed was all the algae on the lake. There was more than we've ever seen before. It was odd. So odd that a biologist and her assistant were gathering samples to take back to their lab to see if they could find a reason why the algae was so, err, vibrant this time of year. She joked to the twins that they had a café at work and she would sell Algae Soup after they'd run their tests. FDPG was deeply suspicious that they might actually try such a thing, even after the biologist reassured her (more than once) that she was just joking. A very literal girl, is our FDPG.
Look! Crop circles! (at least, that's what FDPG said they were)I'm thinking they're pretty sloppy aliens, with crop circles that irregular.
6 comments:
What a gorgeous area you live in Sheila!
It looked like a beautiful day. I am a lover of sockless weather, which have left us behind now.
We are getting cooler but the sun is still shining. I was in my wool coat outside yesterday but others were in shorts and t-shirts. I guess I'm a bit of a weather wimp. ;-) I guess I'm just meant for Tahiti...
Next time, one of the kids should take the camera and get a shot of Ms Sheila walking through the woods... :-)
It really is - an enclave in the city. It used to be an old dairy farm, and then was turned into protected land. Thankfully.
I was telling the kids at dinner how Heather had mentioned snow in them thar hills and both the boys said "I want to move there!" while me and FDPG said "ICK! We're moving to Egypt!" Or somewhere hot and dry. I'm not ready for the winter at all. I like the seasonal aspects but I really don't like rain or snow or cold at all.
Me - a picture? Surely you jest. Didn't Shelly tell you how unphotogenic I am? I have no good side, I'm afraid. I either look fat and old, or fat and old and wrinkly, or old and wrinkly. There's only so much trauma I can cope with in a day.
Jest I not! Shelly told me no such thing.
I'm sure you are a lovely and perfect Sheila.
My mom just had laser eye surgery and the day after her eyes were a little swollen but her focus was on that she had no wrinkles. We women are soooo funny!
Hmm, maybe I need some laser surgery!
I have decided that my devotion to sun-worship has meant that I will look 400 years old when I am only in my 40s, but you know, I'm okay with that. Well, right NOW I'm okay with that...
When I was a teenager, I read an article with Christie Brinkley and she said she stayed out of the sun. From that moment on, I was always hatted in the sun because in my wacky teenage mind, I thought that keeping my face out of the sun would make me look like Christie.
I endured the years of teasing about my paleness, and thought to myself 'ha, just you wait boys - I'm going to morph into Christie Brinkley and who will have the last laugh'.
20 years later, I'm still waiting for the morph to happen. There was the wild 20s when I did get tan once or twice. Maybe that wrecked my chances. Maybe that's where the wrinkles came from. Hmm...
There does seem a lot of algae, I hope they can discover the reason. A lovely place to be in the sunshine, your weather looks just like ours. Really great photo of the grasshopper, his head looks like it's covered in gold leaf! x
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