birds – Page 7 – The Hermits' Rest

It’s Fun to Be Friendly

I’ve been a lot more chipper the past month or two, and it seems like being cheerful is contagious. I keep having such nice conversations with strangers as I wander around Hilton Head Island. It does a great job of counteracting the harsh reality of the world outside my fragile little bubble (the current US President really doesn’t think he’s qualified to be Pope, does he?).

Much of the day was spent in my usual meditative walking and birding, but Lee and I did go out for a bit of fun, though he was feeling poorly, so he mostly sat in the car while I did things…other than the shopping.

Cute catbird I saw getting a meal (deep shade so hard to photograph).

HE wanted to go to the outlet mall. Why? To get underwear. Like a stereotypical husband, he located the store he wanted to go to, and in fewer than five minutes had purchased his favorite underwear and was done. I, of course, had barely started enjoying the wonders of the Vera Bradley outlet. Oooh, aah. I got a change purse and a 70% off blanket that matches my purse. Then I had lovely chats with the staff at the other shops I visited. They were all friendly, and I hope a cheery customer made their days a little brighter (goodness, who is this chipper writer and where did Suna go?).

Maybe this beautiful Mabel Orchard Orbweaver bit me. *Leucauge argyrobapta*

After a lunch that was either delicious (me) or disgusting (Lee) we found Jarvis Creek Park, which we’d been by many times but hadn’t visited. What an ideal place for me to go!

The park was created to preserve huge oaks.

The first thing I did, naturally, was go explore the trails by the creek. An unexpected sight was a little headquarters for feral cats, with feeding stations, little shelters, and such. I hope they trap, neuter, and release them. The cat I saw was not thrilled to have its meal interrupted.

The trail is beautiful and was chock full of birds. I got to see many of them, not just hear them, too.

The only issue was that I came across an immense fallen oak tree across the path. This was not a tree you could just step over and keep going. No, I had to crawl under it in the only crawlable space. Naturally, it being nature and all that, there was poison ivy and greenbrier all around. But someone had cut the worst briars down, so I guess the obstacle is well known. I checked for snakes and successfully negotiated it. Fun!

But it was worth it. I enjoyed all the ferns and trees.

Once I finished looking at the creek, I went on the paved trail that circles a lake made from damming the creek. There I ran into many friendly people, including a couple with two adorable, portly dachshunds. We had a nice chat, then were startled by a big plopping noise in the lake. It was a very big fish. It turns out the lake is stocked, and is catch and release, so the inhabitants are super-sized. At least next time I was prepared.

I just chatted my way around the lake. When I heard a bluebird I saw a group of folks my age sitting and looking through binoculars. I asked if they’d heard it, and one guy immediately reached for his phone. Everybody has Merlin these days (making life with birds more interesting). They were grateful and told me they come often to look at the birds.

There were many birds to see, too. I saw a Double-crested Cormorant, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (they are so tiny), and yet another Red-shouldered Hawk that was not at all concerned about being near people. It flew right in front of me and landed on a nearby oak. I find it fascinating that the birds here are so much more comfortable around humans than the wilder ones at home. Of course, they encounter many more people on this very wooded but well populated island.

I’ll have to make this park a regular stop when I’m here again. I really enjoyed seeing the beauty. It’s next to the museum that I still haven’t gone to. You’d think I’d have seen everything here, but no, not really. I spend way too much time reading, resting, and crocheting. And it’s the end of the month! Time to finish April on the temperature blanket.

There were pink evening primroses in the wildflower area!

If you read this (and I’m back to being so boring that very few people read), go out and strike up a conversation with a stranger. There’s a good chance it will make you and the stranger have a better day!

Elderly Ramblings

No complaints about yesterday, which was the first whole day I got to spend with Lee on this trip. Make that few complaints, since sometimes the negativity slips under my skin and needles me, but I’m sure my stuff needles him, too.

I did the usual walking and birding, getting a new lifer, the Blackpoll Warbler. I’m racking up warblers on this trip. We had lunch at the Greek restaurant here in Hilton Head, where we both raved about the red grapes so much that the server took a picture of the bag for us so we can look for them. If you see these, try them! Going on and on about fruit makes me feel elderly.

We went to the Newhall Audubon Preserve after that, with the Big Lens. Lee got really excellent pictures of some very active Black Vultures.

There was also a pretty Gray Catbird that posed for us, and lots of birds to listen to. Here are all the birds I got photos of, in no good order.

I spent my time looking for fungi, insects, weird galls, and whatever could up my total on my final day of the City Nature Challenge. I did well, with over 300 sightings, which would have won my group at home if I’d been at home. On the other hand, maybe I wouldn’t have seen so many organisms (I probably would have; Milam County is more diverse, it turns out). But it was FUN, and that’s what counts.

Now, about these elderly ramblings I promised in the title of this post. I’ve been watching a lot of television shows about elderly people in the past few weeks (also watched all of Only Murders in the Building a while back). Matlock’s heroine is 75 years old. Grace and Frankie are in their seventies, too. And yesterday we started watching A Man on the Inside, where Ted Danson also plays someone who’s at least 70. It makes sense to have more television and movies about the elderly, since the demographics of the US are skewing older. And I like the fact that they don’t try to make them look too young (even Jane Fonda) and they talk about old people issues, like vaginal dryness.

I’ve always been uncomfortable with our (increasingly weirder and scarier) society’s focus on youth. I think my parents did a good job of modeling being comfortable in your skin, however saggy it might be, and I’ve followed along after some years of hair dyeing that didn’t produce anything remotely natural. No wonder I switched to Overtone’s bright colors.

My current hair looks like pampas grass in many ways.

In addition to accepting how they look, it’s fun to see how vibrant and active the elderly folks are in these shows, especially their senses of humor and willingness to try new things. We all know that not all people of a certain age are perky and active, so I appreciated that A Man on the Inside had a character with memory loss, who they treated with respect while addressing issues typical for people dealing with that.

I don’t spend all my time watching television, though my recent discovery of streaming has upped my ability to actually enjoy it, and I’ve been meeting a lot of older people on this trip. It’s been fun to learn about how they negotiate their changing lives, incomes, and dreams. Traveling just seems to make people more open and friendly, though, so I’m probably seeing their good sides. For example, yesterday at lunch, we had a great chat with a couple who are going to the Grand Canyon to celebrate his 60th birthday (they saw Lee’s t-shirt). We shared all we did in Sedona last year and wished them well. Total strangers. That was fun.

And we are probably having more fun now that we’re older than we did when we were first married. There is lots of time for conversation and exploration, without quite so many annoying things you just have to do. Like I heard on the television last night, yeah, things hurt, but you just deal with it, because the benefits of being elderly are worth it, at least for many of us.

The beautiful pond at the bird sanctuary

End of ramblings.

I Left the Vicinity

Another day of nice weather and nice birds. This is not an exciting trip so far, but it has certainly lifted my spirits and calmed me down. If I hadn’t accidentally got mixed up with a bunch of people living in the alternate society in the US and had to deal with some insults, I’d be completely okay. But anyway, it’s all good, and I have access to a car!

Magnolias are another sign of the Deep South for me.

While I waited for Lee to get here, I went for a walk through neighborhoods, it being Sunday and me not wanting to interfere with church services by wandering their parking lots and trails. I did hear some good birds and even saw the flash of a Redstart, which was exciting. I enjoy looking at the houses here. It’s a mix of ones built when the island first started to be developed, which are modest 60s and 70s houses and huge vacation homes that are three stories and obviously for renting to large groups. There are a few smaller rentals.

Did I take photos of any houses? No. That feels icky to me, so here’s a skink with a missing tail.

I continued to take pictures of cultivated plants, finding it rather fun to see the information on them in iNat. There are a lot of people with over a thousand observations in the City Nature Challenge now, but I just have over 200. I have a life. Also, there just aren’t that many different native plants in this part of Hilton Head.

This one’s a mophead hydrangea, *Hydrangea macrophylla*.

Today maybe I’ll see some different plants, since I can go to a different part of the island. It’s interesting how just a few miles can be a different ecosystem, which I’ve learned in Milam County, where Tarrin gets many different plants from our ranch.

You will see this fungus in many places, though. Stereum lobatum.

Of course, now that Lee is here and we have a car, it’s probably going to rain all day, but we have some other things we can do. We did go to dinner last night at the very pleasant Sea Camp restaurant, with the lovely outdoor areas. It’s dog friendly, so I was not surprised to find Lee talking to a couple with two dogs when I got back from taking pictures of life around a dock.

Just look at this tiny crabby cuteness. It’s a squareback marsh crab – *Amases cinereum*.

The people were very nice, though, so it was quite pleasant, after spending so much time all by myself. Maybe I’ll run into more people today. At least I’ll have the Big Lens on the camera, so we can try to photograph wildlife. Maybe there will be things that are more exciting than dead and stinky armadillos (I sure remember that smell from the one our dogs got into) and dead stingrays (boo hoo).

I love the views of the marshes and river.

PS to email subscribers: I used a different setting for the email the blog sends out. Please let me know if it is weird or what.

April Showers and Flowers

I realized I blathered on and on about something even more boring than usual in my previous post, but I have to confess I spent yesterday doing the same thing. Almost all the photos I took were of plants.

But not this one! I enjoyed watching kites on the beach.

I re-looked at the instructions for the City Nature Challenge, and sure enough, they do not care if you take pictures of plants that aren’t native. So, I found out the names of all sorts of decorative plants from foreign lands that I didn’t know before. And I’m #127 on the list of most observations (out of 2K+).

Oh my. The common name for caladiums is Heart of Jesus.

Yeah, iNaturalist doesn’t do as well with fancy cultivars. It literally had no idea what decorative ginger with yellow-and-red blossoms and striped foliage was. But I persevered. It did way better with squirrels and alligators.

My first walk was back to the Prayer Trail and the surrounding area. There, I was thrilled to actually see Great Crested Flycatchers, which I’ve been hearing frequently as I wander (did you know that a majority of Cameron, Texas residents think that the word for meandering aimlessly is “wonder”? It’s true.).

Two Great Crested Flycatchers. Blurry, but loudly identifiable.

I also heard an unfamiliar call and found out it was an Indigo Bunting! That’s the second type of bunting for this trip. I even got to see it fly around and be all blue and beautiful. Sadly, the best photo I got was not good at all. Only I would know what it was, because I saw it fly in.

Oh, and I also finally got a photo of the new-to-me butterfly I’ve been seeing in the woods. And a cat. Exotic.

Palamedes Swallowtail *Papilio palamedes*

On my second walk of the day, I tried to go back to Lagoon Road, but got confused by a lot of traffic and had some detours. I saw the second alligator there, so all was good.

When I started out, I saw some really interesting clouds, but thought nothing of it until the clouds were accompanied by thunder.

Pretty cloud formation on the road with all the identical condos.

It really didn’t rain much until I got past Coligny (shopping area that has a Chico’s; I miss Chico’s). It was drizzling when I saw Alligator #2, but never got above a light shower. That’s a pretty poor highlight for one’s day, but yep, that and the birds were it. I stood under a big tree and waited until it lightened up enough to get back to Ocean Oak.

Raining in the sunshine where I was sheltering

Oh, why did I do that? Standing still makes you a mosquito dining zone. I paid for that when I tried to go to sleep last night after my television binge. If you’re wondering what television show I’m watching now, it’s the one with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie. With 94 episodes, I’ll be watching for a while, especially since Lee comes today and he won’t want to watch it.

Yeah, Lee bit off more than he could chew with his travel goals yesterday, so he stopped in Georgia to get some rest. I’d rather he arrives during the daytime and not totally exhausted! It doesn’t look like there will be more rain today. Yay. Off for more iNat observations!

Even common plants are pretty, like plantain.

Falling Down on the Job?

Yesterday the City Nature Challenge 2025 began. I had a “doh” moment when I realized I would not be at home, so I can’t contribute to our Master Naturalist group’s efforts to beat whoever our rivals are. I did find out there’s a global category you can join, so I planned to do a lot of iNaturalist work that would count for the global effort.

It’s getting time for turtles to lay eggs. This one was wandering around a condominium complex. Not a sea turtle.

I did my best, but I really hate taking multiple pictures of the same thing in the same general location, and I also am not fond of uploading observations of non-native things. I guess I’ll have to, though, because I only got 56 observations yesterday. I’m the only one on the island observing, though.

This non-native lily is beautiful, but I didn’t upload it.

I think I’ll do better once Lee is here, because there’s bug repellant in the car. Yes, today he shows up, if he can manage the long drive. He didn’t get as far as he’d hoped to yesterday, due to rain and such. And wow, did he have a hard time finding the hotel I booked for him (I am master of the Hilton Honors app). They put hotels so far off the road that it’s hard to spot them at night, but he lived.

While I fell down on the job identifying organisms in iNaturalist, I did find a new bird in the Merlin app. Gee, what would I do without apps? Carry a notebook or something? Technology CAN be our friend. Anyway, Merlin heard a Cape May Warbler, which was one I always wanted to hear. That was fun.

The most fun I had, though, was just standing around. I was in an empty parking lot, just listening to the evening bird songs last night, and it felt like I was a part of the woods. All the ancient trees and their young viny friends were reaching out to embrace me as they talked to each other through their roots (scientific fact, if you’re a fact-believing person). And the little birds who were flitting from tree to tree going about important bird business of eating and reproducing were all around, like I was one of the resident mammals sheltering there with them (so far, the resident mammals I have seen are squirrels, rabbits, and deer).

I have no idea how long I spent there. I feel so at home and at peace in these wooded areas, because they remind me so much of my childhood. I would look at the giant oak trees in our yard and just marvel at them. I’d also talk to them and the imaginary creatures I was sure were living there. I guess I haven’t changed much.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t share the Daily Gator. Of course I found one. I wish I’d been able to photograph my favorite bird sightings of the day, though. I got to see Mother Cardinals carrying around tasty morsels for their babies. I must have seen at least four, so they are busy! I was too entranced by watching to try to take pictures. No wonder I only got 56 observations, there was too much gaping at wildlife!

Honestly, I enjoyed goofing off and just enjoying the sights and sounds of the places I explored. It was well worth it. The sign at the exit of the Presbyterian Church sums up my attitude:

What’s your reward for reading to the end of my musings? More photos of things I saw yesterday. I know some of you really like to look at the pictures.

This is the main road. Looks so nice without cars.

Gators and Stranger Things

Yesterday I had a plan to go on a main road and see if I could find anything interesting. I figured I wouldn’t hear too many birds, since there’s a lot of traffic noise, but I could look. And the road, Pope Avenue, has some lovely trails that go over lagoons full of native life. So, off I went!

I really enjoy walking in Hilton Head, because the flora and fauna remind me of where I grew up in northern Florida. Every once in a while I have an “aww” moment where I see something that reminds me of my mom. These irises were that for me. She loved finding them in the swampy areas we used to visit, looking for alligators. Mom was a fan.

And speaking of alligators, I found plenty of them on my walk. All were fairly young. The first one I found when I was taking a picture of a turtle to upload to iNaturalist. I looked at the image and realized the turtle was not alone.

My guess is that the gator had recently eaten (they don’t eat very often, especially after a large meal). Can a turtle tell that? I’m not sure, but they certainly looked cozy. The next ones I found were in a larger pond. There were at least four alligators there, which impressed me.

While watching the younger alligator swimming around underwater and going after something, I realized there was something else in the water. At first, I thought it was some debris, like a plastic bag floating in the pond.

But as I looked more closely, I could see that it was moving. I was very confused by this creature. Eventually I saw a tail. So, hmm, it had a tail.

At last, it came a bit closer to the surface, and I saw a mouth and eyes. Then it swam off and I saw fins waving. I could swear it was a stingray.

OK, that looks like the face of a ray. I’ve looked at lots of them.

I thought stingrays only lived in saltwater, though, so I made sure to look up the behavior of rays when I got back to the condo. Sure enough, Atlantic stingrays can be found in brackish or fresh water. How about that! I saw a ray!

I also enjoyed the nearby park, Compass Rose Park, which I’d driven by many tims, but not visited. It has a cool statue of a man walking an alligator, and a large kinetic sculpture of a compass rose, along with some interesting water features. I’m glad I visited.

The only other fun creatures I saw were a whole group of Carolina Wrens in some brush, an Osprey nesting on a cell tower, and my very first Cape May Warbler behind one of the churches on Pope. I love exploring the backs of things. Lots of birds hang around the edges of parking lots.

I’m sure you’re wondering what exciting television viewing I engaged in. I got completely caught up with Matlock, which sure has its twists and turns. I wonder what will happen in the next season, because Matlock seems to have burned all bridges at her current workplace. Sorta like me.

I did apply for a job. I had sent in an application the day I lost the previous job but never heard back. Apparently, they re-opened it. Do I really want another job? I am not sure at all. But I can talk to the people looking for a candidate. Sadly, I can barely understand the recruiter. Indian English is so different from American English!

Parting shot. Seen in the restroom at the place I had lunch.

Hey Suna, Why Do You Travel Alone?

People sometimes look at me like I have two heads when I tell them I go to places far away from the ranch all by myself for weeks at a time. Plus, my spouse if fine with it. Why, why why?

And why put this colorful ginger (I think) flower here? It’s pretty.

A quick answer is that we are both hermits (hence the blog title) and enjoy time alone. That’s true, but not really why I do it. One of my traits is that I tend to take the whole “Pisces” thing to many levels (I find some of the personality aspects of astrology helpful, but no, I don’t base my decisions on it). Most aspects of my personality have two distinct and often contradictory aspects. For example, I enjoy dressing in a gender-neutral fashion, but I have those long fancy fingernails and slap flowers on most of my shirts.

That goes along with how I always come out borderline on tests of introversion versus extroversion. I’m one way sometimes, and the other when the situation changes. And I crave alone time but have never lived alone. Ever. People I’ve broken up with tend to hang out with me until someone new arrives. And when I had two houses for a few years, because I was still working in Austin, I had my friend Anita in the Austin houses.

It’s the Austin house (Bobcat Lair) showing lovely dark rain clouds. Ah.

My point is that I found it odd that I insisted on having a companion wherever I lived. Was I incapable of living alone? I tested that by traveling to these condos alone. (Note that I’m not camping in the wilderness; I still want to feel safe.) And what I’ve found is that I have a hard time coming up with a daily routine without someone else to build the routine around. My first few trips it felt very strange deciding for myself what to do, where to go, what to eat, how to entertain myself, without having to negotiate it with someone else. I was uneasy making decisions with no input.

I decided all by myself to pick up thistle seeds and watch them blow around, to make more thistles.

This week I’ve realized that I’m totally comfortable alone. I don’t need a routine, because one evolves naturally. I get up, dress, make coffee, write in my journal…etc. and it becomes a routine. And the silence is glorious. If there are sounds, they’re my choice. Now that I know I can do it, maybe I don’t need to be alone for parts of my travel so much. Still, Lee hates to be away from home for long, so this might continue.

I’m sure he’s not as fascinated by pelicans as I am.

With that musing out of the way, I’ll hit the highlights of my solo day in Hilton Head yesterday. I’m making the most out of having no car by exploring all the nooks and crannies I can walk to. There were no raptor sightings, but I did get startled by unexpectedly encountering a Great Blue Heron in a little pond. The herons here are much more accustomed to people than the ones at home, who fly off if they detect me anywhere near them.

Otherwise, I did another walk on the Prayer Trail, with so many pretty warblers, Painted Buntings, and Great Crested Flycatchers. I even came across a new life bird, the Wood Thrush, who looks a lot like a Hermit Thrush but sounds different.

I then found a trail in the woods next to the Prayer Trail. It had signs on either end admonishing folks not to ride their motorbikes on it. As far as I was concerned, that meant it was perfectly fine to walk the trail. Nothing said, “no trespassing.” So, I went on it.

What fun that was! This was a much less cleared trail through similar virgin woods (well, it IS the same woods) to the other one. I saw many lizards and skinks (not skunks, as autocorrect changed my Facebook caption to), and some gorgeous trees. I felt like an explorer.

Later in the day, after a delicious veggie flatbread at the bar, I walked down the beach again to see what shore birds were around. I was delighted to find some Royal Terns among the gulls. They are beautiful in flight, but I find them quite comical on the ground. Their crowns look like old man hats, and the way they were walking around chatting with each other just made me smile.

Later I saw some doing mating flights, which was fun to watch, as well as very loud.

Otherwise, I spent much of the walk dodging dozens of Cannonball Jellies that had washed up. I was glad not to be barefoot, as there were also many sharp-looking pieces of crabs strewn around. I guess the birds only like the middles of crabs.

When I came home, I gleefully read my book and watched whatever television show I cared to watch (this time it was Matlock). I have no doubt that by the time Lee gets here, I’ll be happy to have a companion to plan around, however.

Still Here, Saw Owls, Binged on Books and TV

I didn’t write last night because I was being a self-indulgent vacationer. After a truly excellent walk to the lagoon area near where I’m staying on Hilton Head Island, I had an indulgent lunch of eggs Benedict and grits, then spent the rest of the day indulging in various media. I don’t think I’ve ever done this before. It felt weird, mostly because I sat in one place for so long. I’ll get to that momentarily.

very burned pizza — I would like to know the story of this poor pizza I found lying on the ground. It’s well cooked, all right.

The birding walk was most excellent. I saw and heard all kinds of birds I don’t usually run into, including a pair of Eastern Kingbirds, an American Redstart, and an Ovenbird. The trees were alive, both by the lagoon and at the nearby park, where there were also many turtles and a little alligator that really got kids excited. The only downside was that, even though I wore jeans and closed-toe shoes, I got all bit up by mosquitoes. I now need a Benadryl, which will probably put me to sleep.

The highlight of the walk was the payoff for standing quietly in an alcove at the end of Lagoon Road and watching all the birds. I was thrilled to see a Barred Owl fly right in front of me and land nearby. As I was trying to see where it was, a second Barred Owl also flew by! I figured I’d stay and see if they made any calls that Merlin could hear. I also got quite distracted by an interesting caterpillar that crawled onto my pants. This thing has many bells and whistles on it.

caterpillar — It’s a Fir Tussock moth, *Orgyia detrita*. I read the Wikipedia article on Tussock moths, and it told me those white tufts are the tussocks. I was also wise not to touch it. Those long hairs sting. Also, in the moths, the male is large and attractive, and the female is very small. Read the article!

I guess that moth really excited me because I didn’t notice the owls moving. As I was about to leave, I turned to look once more, and there was one of the owls, sitting close enough to me that even in the dark shadow, I could get a reasonable photo, once he or she moved their head. Interestingly, there was a crow sitting close by, glaring at it. As I’ve learned at home, crows aren’t very fond of owls.

barred owl — This is the closest I’ve ever been to an owl. The ones at home hide.

I got to show the owl to a couple of folks walking down the path, which was rewarding. I headed back to the Coligny shopping area, where I truly enjoyed that breakfast, all by myself. I also had a bloody Mary. I’m trying to learn to enjoy this retirement thing.

I was impressed that my meal matched my nails.

I came back to my condo and thought I’d watch another episode of the Netflix series, The Residence, which many people had recommended to me because the detective in the series is a birder. I also discovered it is set in the White House, and as a fan of The West Wing, I wanted to see how they treated it. Well, many hours later, I finished all eight episodes, the last of which was 1.5 hours. Some of the humor is very subtle, which I loved, and the birding part is okay (though the bird names were not always accurate). But I LOVED the heroine, a large Black woman who is a genius. It’s about time we had more protagonists who are different from the norm. Most of the characters were fun. I recommend this if you have a Netflix subscription. By the way, I figured out how to stream from my phone all by myself. Maybe I am the technology whiz people keep accusing me of being.

Condo view — The place I watched television from. Look, I bought healthy bananas in addition to Goldfish crackers.

I figured that I was already watching television, so I made myself a delicious Publix meal for one, got out my temperature blanket, and caught up with all the sitcoms I secretly like to watch. Lee is not fond of sitcoms, and I can see why. They are often predictable and dumb (especially poor Reba on Happy’s Place, which I doubt gets renewed – edit, Wikipedia says it did). I got that one out of the way and well into St. Denis Medical (which also got renewed) by the time I finished eating and crocheting.

Spiderwort, the Ohio kind that’s more common than the Texas ones.

I’m not totally mindless sitcom fodder, though. I did read the Eve book I talked about in my being judgy post until I fell asleep. Learning about the history of human development from a female point of view is fascinating. Much of it I didn’t know about, though having read the book about the senses a while back, I did know how male and female vision differ. I’ll write a full book report when I’ve digested all 500 pages, but now it’s time to go fight the mosquitoes and listen to more birds.

I always think of my mom when I see bottlebrush trees. She thought they were so cool, but had to explain what exactly a bottlebrush was to us as kids.

What’s the Hurry?

Today I was feeling quite fine, perhaps even groovy, while I was on my walk around Nails Creek State Park on an uncharacteristically cool April morning. I was reminded of the Simon and Garfunkel song that reminds us:

Slow down, you move too fast!
You’ve got to make the morning last!

That was from “Feeling Groovy,” if you aren’t old enough to have it pop right into your head. That’s how I was, too, taking my time, feeling the sand beneath my hiking shoes, and in the groove.

Life, I love you. All is groovy!

Groovy soapberry flowers

While I was walking and walking (fast enough to keep warm but not very fast), I realized that when I walk rhythmically I can’t think about anything negative. I just feel my body moving. Maybe that’s why people like running so much?

One thing I’m glad about is that I don’t need to run to get the effects of exercise. I love moving more slowly. I also think my focus on perceiving my surroundings with all my senses helps with grounding me. It’s like a walking meditation! That’s it! I’ve learned to meditate while looking for plants and listening for birds.

Even if that’s not true I find the idea comforting. Hobbies can be healthy! I plan to control my meanderings and take my time exploring the wide world around me, slowly and intentionally. It may be what keeps me together through unprecedented challenges.

I spent my original groovy years surrounded by Spanish moss.

What do you think? Am I onto something?

A Camping Dilemma

Any day out I nature is good. It did rain much of today, then got cold, but rain sounds good on the roof and I have warm clothing stashed in Seneca’s closet. However, the rain was not enough to dampen the spirits of our fellow campers.

Two, perhaps three (hard to tell) groups of incredibly enthusiastic Scouts are here, with one taking up three sites across from us. They are having FUN. So far I haven’t detected any actual scouting activities from this group, unless bellowing, screeching, and making siren sounds can earn you a merit badge. The adults coped by yelling back.

I coped by trying to leave, but it kept raining on me.

The other group was set up in the other camping area by the lake. They even had on uniforms as they blasted through empty campsites screaming instructions. One of them saw me and yelled, “Stranger Danger.” I was annoyed by then and reminded them that scouting encourages them to respect other campers.

I’m under a shelter. They’re scampering off.

They were on their way to a ceremony (I’d heard, ha ha), so by the time Lee had picked me up from standing in the rain and we drove by, they were doing a lovely ceremony with flags and saluting. Of course, THAT is when the park police went by. Such good little citizens.

I got to see a gun millipede while in the shelter in the rain.

Note that I did get a little walk in between rains and found a couple of interesting plants. I was trying out the new and improved iNat app, too. It identifies what I see immediately, so I don’t have to do it when I get back from a walk. Fewer Master Naturalist hours, but that’s fine.

Meanwhile, Lee and I took a drive around the area and looked at a couple of cute small towns. When we came back, the local kids were back outside, now throwing a football. I left again, and had a pleasant, if chilly, walk on the Nails Creek Trail, featuring lake views, more fun plants, and an owl.

A better picture of Sandyland Bluebonnet

The dilemma for me is whether I should have gone over and talked to the adults about the noise levels. I see two sides. One is that these are children who are outdoors. They don’t need to use their “inside voices” and that’s probably fun. Knowing how structured and protected the lives of kids are these days, this was probably a rare opportunity for free play with their friends, and that’s exhilarating for sure.

On the other hand, those of us who weren’t in their party could not enjoy our campsites when it wasn’t raining. In fact, we could only enjoy inside the RV with music or television on. I’ve been told that the training for the adults covers how to act when camping. I didn’t see a lot of buddy system or respect for the leaders.

I’m just not sure if I should have asked the park staff to talk to them or talked to them myself. I know how people react these days, so I said nothing. I honestly don’t mind kids having fun at reasonable volumes and staying in their own sites or the road. They were running all over the campground while the adults mostly sat in their chairs. I wish they’d gone on a hike or something but they’d have scared all the birds and animals.

My fervent hope is that they all pack up and leave early to go to church. Fingers crossed.

By the way, I want to thank any readers who went to peaceful protests today. Sign creativity was high! Since 2020, I can no longer do big crowds. But I’m grateful to those of you who fought through introversion and showed up.