Nature noted – Page 2

30Jan

An Impression in the Snow

A couple Mondays ago my youngest daughter came rushing into the house. She’d seen a really cool bird in the backyard. But even better, she’d seen it swoop down and scoop up a mouse right off the snow and fly away with it! Practically vibrating with excitement, now she wanted to know what kind of bird it was.

I pulled out the bird book and had her go through it. She thinks it was a horned owl. And to think she’d been in exactly the right place at the right time to witness it catching its dinner. I was a little envious.

Then she told me she’d also seen the tracks of the mouse trail and the owl’s wings. Wait, tracks? Tracks??

There were TRACKS?

This I wanted to see.

So we went out, and although it was getting a little dark and the flurries were starting to fill them in, there was the whole incident laid out as an impression in the snow.

What a story those impressions told. We snapped a few photos and once again marvelled at how lucky she was to have seen that.

Of course, the snow impressions are now gone, but I’m hoping the impression they left on my daughter will last a lifetime.

© Lizann Flatt, www.lizannflatt.com
No part of this blog may be used without written permission from the author.

24Jan

The Horrible Hairy Holiday Surprise

Saved in: Nature noted, There's a story there...somewhere
by Lizann Flatt
with 0 Comments

How’s that for a title? Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

But it was hairy, it was related to the holidays, and it was a surprise. It’s horrible, too, if you’re arachnophobic. See:

This was lurking on the pineapple display in my local grocery store just before Christmas. I’m not too sure it’s native. Could it have come in with the pineapples? It was a healthy inch and a half long at least. [[shudder]]

My daughters and I tried to tell store personnel about this unusual squatter but no one was interested in giving us the time of day.

I wonder what happened to it. Maybe there’s a story there…somewhere.

© Lizann Flatt, www.lizannflatt.com
No part of this blog may be used without written permission from the author.

01Dec

The Shades of My Muskoka Sunrise

What a sunrise this morning! It sure made me glad I got up early, and what a way to start December. I got a few photos of the colour, but in playing with my camera the photos came out looking quite different depending on the setting. See:

It made me think: which one is the shade of reality? Do I even remember now? Nope, not really. Does it matter? Maybe, but for me the variations are what matter not which one is more authentic.

Those differing shades of reality…the stuff a writer navigates through all the time, wouldn’t you say?