Scottish Highlands

Scottish Highlands

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Making it Up as I Go Along #562

Lake Encounter
Careful steps along the shore
Avoiding startled Kermits
Flopping through the clover
Seeking watery refuge

With eyes cast low my startle comes
Three heavy flaps
The sound of spreading clean bed sheets
Look up to the departing heron

Gracefully shy they drift away
Hundreds of quick yards
Looking to end encounters before they begin
Leaving you to the frogs below

But this day differs from the rest
The three flaps end with a quick perch
Across the froggy lagoon
Thirty foot buffer between we statues

Standing frozen I watch his moves
As spindle legs navigate rocky shore
Bridging the distance between us
One deliberate step after another

Fifteen feet stands between us
He stops and scans the pond
Watching for a meal while eyeing me
One leg tucks up into plumidge

One legged he watches my stillness
Yawning with the afternoon laze
Readjusting wings
He shifts weight into the wind

And there we stay
Neighbours finally meeting
With soreness creeping in my legs
And he still balancing against the wind on one

Time to leave I have a wish
To slip off without disturbing
Leaving him relaxing upon the shore
I deliberately climb the cover

Each slow and silent step adds distance
He curiously watches me off
On top of the ridge a final glance
While he turns back to the still waters

And so I walk away
As the breezes guide me home
With thoughts of my shy neighbour
And the half hour we shared
Getting to know each other



MONDAY...
--- Nights. Wendy's helps me along the way. 

TUESDAY...
--- Woke at 11:00 by a Nutri Lawn phone call. Oh well, who needs sleep?
--- Out for an hour and fifteen minute walk. Get startled with an encounter with a heron. Get within eight feet before he flies. Goes thirty feet away but then walks back to within fifteen feet of me and just accepts my presence. Stands on one leg. Yawns. Doesn't seem to mind me. And half way through, a second heron comes within about twenty feet before flying off. 

WEDNESDAY...
--- Hour long walk. My calf doesn't give me any trouble. Still feel a slight tightness in it from time to time but no real issue. 
--- Get some groceries and lay low around the house. Only watching about an inning of the World Series. I'm just totally getting turned off the Boston shtick. Troll beards... B Strong mowed into centre field for the Boston Marathon bombing... Obnoxious fans. Meh. Maybe I'll be better suited for the series when it shifts to St. Louis. 
--- Thinking of home today. Lots of family stuff going on there. 

THURSDAY...
--- Another long walk followed by down time around the house. Looks like the beavers are still around at the creek. Some new branches in the water since I was last there. 

FRIDAY...
--- No walk today. I've had three good ones in three days and today seems cold and windy. My calf is also feeling a little tight. So take it easy. 
--- Take an hour or so dealing with the laptop. Put the new operating system on and get my iPhoto files synced up some. 

No comments: