Guess who’s back? Monday evening at the beach I was sad that I still hadn’t seen my gull friend with the mangled foot. But Friday night I spotted him! He was up to his old tricks and promptly stole a foot-long hot dog from a woman sitting at one of the picnic tables. After devouring it on a rock nearby he flew away without evening stopping by to say hello.
7.22.17
But tonight (Saturday) he made up for it, flying right to the white post in front of us. He talked to us for quite a while as you can see from these pictures. Not sure what he’s got stuck on his beak — maybe a feather from another gull? Maybe he was complaining about it — he sure had a lot to say about something or other.
7.22.17
It was nice to see him looking so self-assured and sprightly. 🙂
7.22.17
We didn’t stay long. There was no sea breeze for some reason. Barely any waves. It was hazy and muggy and none of the sailboats had their sails up. The ocean has many moods.
While Tim & I were eating our supper at the beach last night we noticed a great egret fishing for a meal. After we finished I decided to see how close I could get to him for some pictures. He didn’t seem to notice me at all, his attention was so focused on fish in the water.
7.17.17 ~ great egret at Eastern Point Beach
Got it!
7.17.17 ~ great egret at Eastern Point Beach
The fish put up a good struggle but the egret kept at it until he got the fish in the right position to gulp it down.
7.17.17 ~ great egret at Eastern Point Beach
It was really over quite fast ~ my eye didn’t see as much as the “sports” setting on the camera was able to capture.
7.17.17 ~ great egret at Eastern Point Beach
I’m amazed he didn’t drop the fish at some point!
7.17.17 ~ great egret at Eastern Point Beach
Ready to swallow!
7.17.17 ~ great egret at Eastern Point Beach
And then it was gone. Followed by a quick sip of water…
7.17.17 ~ great egret at Eastern Point Beach
Since he was still studying the water I wondered if he was preparing for another strike or if he needed to wait a little to make room for more.
7.17.17 ~ great egret at Eastern Point Beach
My sister and I saw a great egret fishing at the beach back in 2013, but I didn’t have my camera that morning. This is the first time I got a picture of one with a fish in its mouth! I’m still bubbling with excitement. 🙂
For 32 years the concession stand at our beach was run by Bob & Pat Garcia, but sadly, Pat died this past April. We miss them terribly! Their foot-long hot dogs were inexpensive and very high quality. We always had one with sauerkraut on it. Someone else is running the stand now and we’re doing our best to get used to the change. The hot dogs and sauerkraut are not nearly as good. But last night we sampled a handcrafted hamburger and decided we could live with that and continue our summer tradition, slightly altered.
I haven’t seen my gull friend with the mangled foot this year, so that is making me a little melancholy, as well. But having a chance to photograph the great egret catching his dinner brightened my mood considerably. 🙂
“Red Water Lily of Southern India” by Marianne North
If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water. ~ Loren Eiseley (The Immense Journey: An Imaginative Naturalist Explores the Mysteries of Man & Nature)
Katherine still loves music. So, after dropping off her papa at the airport for a 2-week business trip to Ireland, her mama and I took her to a cool place in Durham called Notasium, a music-based indoor play space. The heat and humidity outside was unbearable the first week of my visit.
6.18.17 ~ Durham, North Carolina
Katherine ran and danced with joy. She loved pressing the buttons to hear music from different cultures (Mexico was her favorite) and then running over to the bouncy house to jump with her mom and look out the screen window. Then back to the Touch Notes and repeat.
6.18.17 ~ Durham, North Carolina
Katherine had agreed to the rule to wear socks in the play space, but after a while, since she prefers going barefoot, she decided to remove her socks. Her mother gently reminded her of the rule.
6.18.17 ~ Durham, North Carolina ~ waiting for mom to come out of the bouncy house
Then on to a giant slide. One is supposed to climb a giant guitar fret-board to get to the top of the slide!
6.18.17 ~ Durham, North Carolina
6.18.17 ~ Durham, North Carolina
Later, when we were looking over these pictures Katherine exclaimed, “My beautiful dress!” It is her favorite and she wore it quite often while I was visiting. 🙂 These were the only pictures I got during my two week stay. On the days when I had Katherine, while Larisa was at work, there was no way to pause and take pictures.
But they were delightfully happy hours. My heart melted when Katherine finally started calling me Grammy. And when she loved my (grass-fed beef, gluten-free) meatloaf and roasted baby potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts. (So I made it again the second week!) Most days we sported matching pony tails. 🙂
I also had a chance to visit with friends from high school living in the area, and family. Tim’s brother and his wife recently moved back from Germany to a place about an hour and a half away from Larisa & Dima. Fran and I had a good day taking Katherine to the Museum of Life & Science. It was a very busy, exhausting, but super lovely visit!
The earth gives away for free the power of wind and sun and water, but instead we break open the earth to take fossil fuels. Had we taken only that which is given to us, had we reciprocated the gift, we would not have to fear our own atmosphere today. ~ Robin Wall Kimmerer (Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge & The Teachings of Plants)
But especially he loved to run in the dim twilight of the summer midnights, listening to the subdued and sleepy murmurs of the forest, reading signs and sounds as man may read a book, and seeking for the mysterious something that called – called, waking or sleeping, at all times, for him to come. ~ Jack London (The Call of the Wild)
But here there was not a sound, and the air was scented with the white flowers of the night. It was a night so beautiful that your soul seemed hardly able to bear the prison of the body. ~ W. Somerset Maugham (The Moon & Sixpence)
Night, the beloved. Night, when words fade and things come alive. When the destructive analysis of day is done, and all that is truly important becomes whole and sound again. When man reassembles his fragmentary self and grows with the calm of a tree. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Flight to Arras)
