Late summer gold

A few images from our last evening walk with my mum around Berkeley Lake.

A wandering duck.

Have you ever seen a water rat? We spotted this one and it spotted us at the same moment. There it sat, among the reeds, minding its own business.

Unfortunately, we had a dog, and the rat did not sit long enough for me to focus properly. But I'm glad I snapped these shots. I haven't ever seen a water rat before, outside the Wind in the Willows! A very mysterious creature!

And sunset descends over the lake.

This is the move I call her "excited clench". I got a good shot of it here.

She finishes with a little full-body shudder of anticipation. What's she excited about here? Ducks. It took some work on my part, folks, but I managed to get her hooked on ducks. I think it was my constant quacking that finally won her over. Mike got some pictures of me quacking, in case you're wondering what that looks like. I'll post them later.

Oh, that color. The older I get, the more I appreciate the subtleties of all the varied seasons. The gold of late summer is one I'm just noticing this year - gold in the light, gold in the sunsets, gold in the flowers, gold in the fruits on the trees, gold in the meadows - even before the trees begin to turn with their own shade of gold. How is it that I never noticed this particular symphony of nature before?

Sittin' on the dock of the bay.



Beautiful.

Tomorrow, we head up to Vail for our "last hurrah" before M. has to start school again. It's our last chance to show our old stomping grounds to Flynn before the new season sets in, and things get busy again. Also our last chance to do some hiking with the Kelty backpack that M's parents gave us, weather permitting! I'm hoping to have some good photos to post when we get back. We are beyond excited to introduce QQ to our beloved mountains, I have to tell you!