"These are a few of my favorite things"

 What a beautiful gift given to my sister and I today.  This baby eagle was first sitting in a secure spot in the tree then climbed up on the very precarious limb and positioned itself and tried several times to take off, finally got it right.  OOHH how Priceless

Did you know that we are in the year of the rabbit?  I'm a rabbit in the Chinesescope :) And this is the first bunny that I have seen on the trail in 3 years. Do I dare hope that they are coming back?

The white water lily pad late July. Their simply beauty takes my breath away.

This picture actually captured the way I felt when I saw it. The butterfly, the waves of the water. It was a lazy, layed back beautiful July day

Trying to hide little chipmunk???

Berries everywhere on the trail

A view from my dock.  

Lately I see the shadows before I see the real thing

Out of the murcky waters of the Mississippi comes this white beauty

The wild black eyed susan, just nothin like it. They are every where on the trail and my camera seemed to take on a life of its own for I couldn't pass by a black eyed beauty without snapping away

Milkweed with a monarch caterpillar 

 I just LOVE wild flowers for they grow together in amazing ways

 I think the color of July was purple. 

 You cannot miss a white flower on the trail. They pop out with all the green and yellow

 I have been told that the white vine amongst the cattails is cucumber vine. It is everywhere on the trail and makes wonderful shapes winding around its prey

The trail is now bursting with wildflowers along with different types of grasses. I can feel autumn on her way

Wild Thing (s)

I'm going to dedicate this post , to my friend Jim who died of cancer, to the fawn I saw dead ( hit by a car) and the mother standing by her.  And to Ivory, my nephews cat, who died. Nature is rarely wrong, however, today I have seen too much. Today, I feel the sadness. My friend, the fawn and her mother and Ivory. Today nature is harsh

So I am hoping that writing a blog about nature will help me remember that nature can also be beautiful.

You will see several pictures of moms and their babies. Like above.  A loon and her babies going under the bridge on the PB trail.  Birth!!! 

I really wanted to blow this into the air as I did when I was a kid and make a wish, but thought it just so simple and perfect to disperse 

Ferns have become one of my favorites.  They are such a classy way to introduce the trees

Nature at "her" best. 

I was standing in the river and looked down.  YIKES! But my friend told me that this leech had NO interest in attaching itself to me.  THANK GOODNESS

A Weed?  It is more delightful than just a weed. A purple wonder

What an AWESOME tree. It entangles itself

The birth of a cattail

The aroma of the milkweed is captivating

Rain, so refreshing for nature and for me

Are these flowering into pine cones? Not sure

Saw a lot of yellow lady slippers on the trail this year but only one that had two slippers

This is my cat Makwa and one of the many turtles in our yard. The cats don't even bother with the turtles anymore, boring

This beautiful bird flew into my dining room window.  It took awhile for it to catch it's breath to move on, but it did and I was so grateful that she lived.

"Wild thing, you make my heart sing, you make everything groovy." 

I considered myself very very lucky to see a pink lady slipper on the trail this year. Isn't "she" amazing

The monarch, how graceful 

The snapper. She had an audience today.  There were a lot of us on the bridge

It is now time to say good bye to Jim, little fawn and Ivory. I will miss you Jim and Ivory!!

The Process of Spring

The Process of Spring

OK, this is the second time I have attempted to write this particular blog and post it.  Some how I deleted the first one I wrote, I'm bummed for I happened to like that one.  OH WELL!!!  Soooo... The first two pictures are taken by me and ones that I particularly like

I like this picture for the colors.  This is a picture of moss growing.  If you look close enough you can see.  Just joking :)

My husband and I had our first campfire this past Friday.  I went out first. This poor duck didn't want me there.  She kept quacking at me, I'm sure, asking me to leave.  But I didn't. And she stopped.

Last Sunday I went to the trail to jog.  It was very very windy and cold.  The waves were crashing against the shore and voila the ice. I hated that it was cold and windy, but I thought the ice was beautiful, and a big surprise to me

Onto buds and birds and a few surprises.  At least they were surprises to me

This is another picture that I LOVE!!  I took this picture from the trail on the very very cold Sunday

The above is a maple tree budding in our yard.  In the fall it turns yellow.

Now for one of the surprises to me.  The following two pictures were taken Easter Sunday.

On Easter Sunday I found my friend on the trail feeding this chipmunk.  I'm sure there are a lot of people that have trained chipmunks to eat out of their hand but I found this very special, especially on Easter

This is MY hand feeding the chickadee.  This also happened on Easter Sunday.  My friend introduced me to this place where she, must have, trained these birds to eat out of her hand.  To me this was totally amazing and I will NEVER forget it. I was so connected to nature that day.  My Easter miracle. 

This picture and the next two are nature at her best.  Of course these pictures were taken on the trail

Spring IS sprung(ing) and it makes me feel good.

 To my next trail surprise 

 Otters. You have to look closely to find the otter on top of the otter that you can make out (see). And YES, they were making out :) He had her by the neck and she was screaming.  Making a very very loud noise that sounded like a sheep. It was abit un-nerving. Her noise that is. 

Here ya go, you can see a little better.  They were in the river current and moving fast and my camera doesn't click click click to get several pictures in a row. DARN

Now I am on my dock which is on the Mississippi River.  Here is the first Red Wing Blackbird that I could actually capture on my camera.  I'm not sure but----- this bird was talking to other like birds---- and I think they were talking about me. Hoping I would leave

Back on the trail and more buds.

This picture belongs to the Tamarack trees on the trail.  I am anticipating the return of their leaves.

More buds. If you are getting tired of looking at the buds just walk on the trail and experience the  allure of the landscape and I'm SURE you will find them just as beautiful as I do and you will experience the excitement of spring

Today, Tuesday, May 3rd, which is my brothers birthday, it was beautiful out, thanks brother.  And when it is nice outside you will see all of these cars.  If you read my last blog you will know that I am having a difficult time sharing the trail.  And today it was very difficult for look at aaalll those cars. All those people were on the trial.

I guess I better get use to all these people.  Not only is nature coming alive, but people are also