Just another average quiet Saturday in Loos.
Found a toad sunning itself on the trail. At first I thought it was dead, but then I saw the throat pulsing ever so little. I don’t know if it was cold and was trying to warm itself, or if the sun caught it in mid-stride and it was now suffering from the light, in fact I know almost nothing about the secret life of toads… but that doesn’t stop me from photographing them of course. When I was done with the pictures, I saw a group of people approaching with a dog. I stayed with the toad to make sure that the people wouldn’t trample on it, but I failed miserably with the dog – instead of running to me like you’d normally expect with a dog, this one decided to charge right past me and stepped smack in the middle of the toad. When the people caught up, they were wondering what I was looking at and I pointed out the toad. One of the women picked it up and commented that it looked a bit flat. Yeah… the dog stepped on it, I said. While undeniably true, it was probably not a very diplomatic comment and when the group continued their walk, I heard them say something about ”dog stepping on the toad”. I wonder if they thought I was criticising them… which was of course not the case. I was the one to blame, for having failed to protect the toad. When I put it down (the lady had dumped it in my hands), I was pretty sure that if it wasn’t dead before, it was now. It wasn’t a small dog.
Some time later I found big butterfly fluttering around on the road. It didn’t seem as skittish as butterflies normally are, and I was able to get close. Since it didn’t seem to mind me, I stretched out my hand to see if it would climb on so I could move it to a late blooming flower and maybe get a picture. There it was… happily resting on my finger and refusing any attempt on my part to release it on the flower. It didn’t budge until a car drove past and scared it to fly away.
Reaching my street, a neighbour suddenly ran out of the house and wanted to speak with me. Now what, I thought… I hardly ever speak with her. I shouldn’t have worried, because she just wanted to tell me that she loved my exhibition and that they are the best pictures she has even seen! Completely thrown off my guard, I stuttered a thank you and smiled the rest of the way home.
Sitting in the living room, I saw some movement outside my window. A deer buck… with a doe. I sneaked to the window and looked at the deer gracing on my lawn. I have seen deer here many times, but this is the closest so far.
A bit later, the jays were back. They dominated my bird feeder last winter, forcing me to come up with jay-proof feeders (I didn’t fully succeed, but the jays had to work a lot harder after that) and I’m sure it’s the same birds now, because I haven’t put out the food yet – they just came to have a look. (Note to self: put out bird food)
So life goes on, quietly, quietly… with chance encounters brightening up the days.