PARK IN THE DARK

(SEPTEMBER 13, 2010) The best times to take pictures of nature are during the first hour the sun comes up and during the hour before the sun goes down. That's, pretty much, a given based upon experience. However, what do we miss from the time after the sun goes down until the sun comes up in the morning?

That idea came to mind yesterday (Sunday) morning when Sadie and I returned home from the park at about 8:00. As I turned into the driveway, I saw 8-10 wild turkeys in our back yard. Sadie saw them, too. When they saw my Jeep, they wobbled into the woods. Once in the house, Sadie ran from window to window to see if she could see these strange looking birds. She didn't. They were long gone into the dense woods.

Sunday evening I decided to take Sadie to Angler's Park and let her run on a long leash. We were out there about 45 minutes and decided to head back to the car. I heard the buzzing of a small golf cart and saw a police officer driving towards the parking lot. He drove over to us and started talking. Sadie enjoyed the kindness of this officer as he rubbed her head.

As we talked, I mentioned some of the things I had seen on the Riverwalk over the years, and the officer mentioned that during his 5 years, on the police force, he has spent some time in the park after dark and saw animals that are nocturnal. He had seen red foxes, bobcats, coyotes, and a herd of deer numbering as many as 50 in the large field at Angler's Park. He said that he had also heard reports of bears traveling through (black bears) but hadn't seen any himself. He said that the bears tend to travel near water and that it is just a matter of time that some who venture along the trail will see one. He affirmed, what I learned this summer at Grandfather Mountain, that they will not attack unless threatened or if their cubs are threatened. I hope they don't take a dog barking as a threat because I know Sadie could not refrain from doing so if she saw one.

It is something to think about. What animals can be found in the park at dark? I don't think I'll be venturing down there to see any time soon - especially with my dog, Sadie.

Though I haven't entered new pictures or essays during the past couple of weeks, it has been a good two weeks on the Riverwalk. Life is at work there in the form of humans and nature. It's a good place to be - in the daylight, anyway.

BACKGROUND CHECK ON THE RIVERWALK

(AUGUST 22, 2010) INS didn't come to the Riverwalk this morning looking for illegal immigrants, but there were plenty of background checks going on.

In the nearly 200 pictures taken this morning, I checked each one to see what the background would be since I have had more than one photo ruined because a tree was going out of a bird's back or a pole in the background looked like it was impaling the main subject. See the picture of Sadie and how the background fence looks like it is coming out of Sadie's head making her look like a merry-go-round animal.

However, there are times when the background over-shadows the main subject. For example, this morning the sky was beautiful. I took a picture of a small bird on a wire and captured some of the morning sky in the background. The silhouette of the bird is nice against the sky, but the sky becomes a picture within itself.

Woolly worms were out in plentiful numbers this morning. I saw two white woolly worms and a green one. The white ones were on green leaves, moving slowly around. The green contrast with the white worm helped to provide the contrast, but it also showed the worm in its natural setting.

The green woolly worm was on a fence post. The texture of the wood provided an interesting picture within itself. The green worm, with black dots on its back, moved slowly along the board.

Upon first getting to the trail this morning, I saw a heron sitting on a dam in front of the Brantley Steam plant. The bird was perched on a dry part of the dam with a large wall behind it. The wall was concrete with some white stripes. The reflection of the wall in the river provided an interesting photo in itself.

A goose in the foliage, a flower among the brush, and a tiger swallow tail butterfly sitting on a group of flowers all provide their own unique backgrounds. As a photographer, it is just as important to look at what in front as well as what is behind.

OK . . . here comes a little philosophy. Life, itself, is kind of like that. We can see what's in front of us, but we carry a background that is either attractive in itself or not so attractive. We cannot erase our own backgrounds, our histories, but, thanks to Photoshop, many a photo wrecked by a crummy background has been saved. Just thought I'd toss that in.

It was another beautiful day on the Riverwalk.

OBSERVATIONS

(AUGUST 21, 2010) OBSERVATION #1:

Last week I read that dragonflies and damselflies are the "raptors" of the insect world. That is they prey on other insects.

After having taken a number of photographs of these beautiful insects, I could not believe it. The dragonflies and damselflies flit around and have vibrant coloring ranging from brown to red to blue. I could not believe that they preyed upon other insects - until this morning.

I was near the Public Works department when I saw a beautiful swallow tail butterfly flying overhead. As I looked closer at the butterfly, I realized that it was not flying on its own power. There was a dragonfly carrying the butterfly - to breakfast, I assumed.

OBSERVATION #2: As we walk on the Riverwalk, other walkers will often stop to watch Sadie as she points at insects, and they will comment about how pretty she is. They will stay for several minutes as she gently moves toward the insect she has spotted. There are comments like, "She sure is pretty," "She is poetry in motion," "She is very graceful," or "She knows what she is doing."

This morning, as we were walking along in the grass, a new comment was heard. A man said, "That's a fine animal there."

To me that was a much stronger comment than the others since she was "fine" among ALL animals, not just dogs. It would be like someone looking at my Jeep Liberty and say, "That's a fine Jeep there." That doesn't usually happen. They just say, "That sure is cute." Sheesh!

OBSERVATION #3:

"THE PROM."

That thought came to mind as we wandered past some flowers that had a very pleasant fragrance. It reminded me of my prom, for some reason. I thought that the sweet smell from the flowers must have been a perfume that I had whiffed that night, perhaps worn by my date.

As I continued thinking about the smell, I realized that the aroma reminded me of the prom because that "sweet smell" at the prom was ME. I was wearing Jade East, and, for some reason, those flowers smelled like that to me.

OBSERVATION #4:

On our way back to the car, I saw two young girls (perhaps 6 and 8) running among the geese on the shore. They started across the path as Sadie and I approached. I noticed an adult woman (their mother, I assumed) and another little girl, perhaps 12 or so, sitting on a bench. The littlest girl came towards Sadie and asked if she was friendly. I drew Sadie towards me, held her close and told the girl that Sadie was friendly, and the little girl came over and petted Sadie. The second little girl came over as the mother watched from the bench along with the other little girl.

The two littlest girls said that they had 3 dogs at home. One of the dogs is named, "Hot Rod," and the middle girl said that she had come up with that name. Her mother corrected her and said that the girl's father had come up with the name. As I was leaving, the two had gotten into a fairly head on argument about who had named the dog "Hot Rod." They were cute little girls enjoying an outing in the woods with their mother, and Sadie and I had indirectly caused a rift between the mother and child. Oh, well.

OBSERVATION #5:

Someone had stopped to watch Sadie stalk, jump and miss a small butterfly. The woman commented that she surely has the bird dog instinct even when she is using that instinct to pursue bugs.

In response, I quoted my wife, Elizabeth, and said, "Yep. My wife says that if it flies it dies." I then added. "However, whenever it flies, 99 times out of 100 it doesn't die because Sadie doesn't have a very good record of success."

OBSERVATION #6:

This evening I took Sadie to Angler's Park for a walk around the large field. It was near dark, and I noticed little white ghost like creatures crawling around on some weeds in the marsh. The marsh was crawling with dozens of little white woolly worms. They glowed in the twilight of the evening.

It was a good day on the Riverwalk.

COLOR ON A CLOUDY DAY

(AUGUST 20, 2010) It was cool this morning compared to recent mornings, though the humidity did start to kick in as we completed our walk.

The sky was overcast with threats of rain.

Yesterday, I didn't take an umbrella, and a friend, who had carried his, asked, "Where's your umbrella? It's going to rain."

I said, as I looked at his umbrella, "Oh, ye of little faith. I have faith that it will not rain today."

Yesterday, I was wrong and he was right.

Today, as we passed each other again, he wasn't carrying an umbrella, and he said, "I know it is not going to rain today."

I asked, "How do you know that?"

He said, as he looked to heaven, "I just know." He was right again.

The Riverwalk looked as bleak as if it were the dead of winter instead of summer, except for the foliage all around. However, when there seemed to be little life in the woods, all of a sudden, a burst of colors would spring forth from the dark woods. Yellow flowers, pink flowers, blue flowers, red flowers, white flowers, butterflies, spiders, and other bright and colorful treats awaited me as I rounded every corner in this otherwise dark and dreary world.

One can become depressed and uninspired with such gloominess, but I looked for the little gifts of color and saw the life that was bursting forth on this day. Those bursts brought joy, and when there weren't the colors of nature, I looked at Sadie, and her face burst forth in pure radiance against the dark background.

I recognized how this morning was like the DEAD of winter with the darkness and dreariness, and then I started thinking about how at times of death of a friend, family member or acquaintance, there is the sadness that accompanies this loss. BUT, like on a dark day on the Riverwalk, there are those splashes of color on such days when those who are still living talk about the one who has died, and there is laughter and joy and radiance against the dark background of the day.

What lessons I have learned on the Riverwalk. I have accepted death in nature along the trail as I occasionally see dead birds or insects or other animals, and I have also enjoyed the rich beauty of that little portion of the natural world.

It was another good morning on the Riverwalk.

BIRDS FLYING IN THE RAIN

(AUGUST 19, 2010) During the last two days, Sadie and I had to work our morning walks in between summer rains.

At Angler's Park yesterday morning, the only birds we saw were some Canada geese standing in the newly replenished marsh that had visible water from the recent rains. The marsh had gone almost bone dry, but they have been resurrected. As we were walking back to the car, we heard the honking, the flapping of wings, and finally, saw a flock of geese flying over head and over the river on that dark and gloomy morning.

Today we walked from Dan Daniel Park toward the train station. Early in the walk, I saw a heron standing in the water near the dam at the Brantley Steam Plant. It stood there as Elizabeth held Sadie while I could get a closer shot. After taking a few photos, the bird flew down stream. Within 30 seconds we heard a flapping, looked up, and saw a heron flying over our heads at about 20 feet. The smaller bird landed in the dark woods, something I had never seen before. As Elizabeth walked on with Sadie, I followed the heron into the woods, and took some shots of it as it walked toward the water. Though it was dark in the woods, I got some interesting pictures of this bird.

As we approached the Public Works Department, I looked up and saw a group of young mourning doves perched on several power lines. As I took the pictures, something startled them, and they all flew off together.

In addition to the birds,today we did see another critter on the Riverwalk. There, right at our feet, was a box turtle. Sadie wanted to get at it; Elizabeth held her back for her own benefit. As we left the turtle alone, it eventually came out of its shell and moved slowly . . . oh, so slowly to the water.

It was rainy, but we had two very good days on the Riverwalk.

IT'S ALL ABOUT SADIE

(AUGUST 17, 2010) Because I got a later start than usual (I got to the Riverwalk at about 7:15), I didn't take my camera because I knew it would take us longer to walk the 3-4 miles we usually walk, and the morning heat would be oppressive for Sadie wearing her fur coat. Several people asked me why I didn't have my camera, and I responded that I had taken over 300 pictures yesterday and didn't want to have more pictures to work with. That was kind of a white lie. The reason I didn't bring the camera was really all about Sadie.

I've often asked myself why I go to the Riverwalk each morning. Is it because of: A) I enjoy the natural world and being a part of it for an hour or so? B) I enjoy taking pictures? or C) I enjoy being there with Sadie? Actually, all answers are correct, but if I had to choose one answer it would be "C" because it is all about Sadie.

Over the 4+ years we have been walking on the Riverwalk, we have had many interesting events happen that would not have happened had it not been for Sadie. She tends to draw attention, especially when she is pointing, and bikers, walkers, and joggers are constantly commenting on what a pretty dog she is. There are other comments as well, such as:

Does she hunt?
Is she like a bird dog?
Is she that dog that was on that magazine a few years ago (Showcase, July, 2008, to be exact)?
Is she friendly?
How old is she?
Did you teach her to pose like that?

As for that last question, that was raised by a friend who was on his bicycle and stopped to admire Sadie as she was honed in on . . . a butterfly. She was doing her "stealth" moves and moving slowly toward the small insect. She had her tail up, her nose pointed, and was raising each leg, very gently, as she crept toward the butterfly. My friend said, "That's amazing the way she moves. Did you teach her how to do that?"

I said, "Yep. Got down on my hands and knees and showed her how to hunt."

He said, "I'll give you $20 if you will demonstrate."

I said, "I'll do it for $40 and your willingness to help me get up. My pride is worth at least $40."

We laughed and watched as Sadie got within a few inches of the butterfly and, as in 99 cases out of 100, the butterfly flew away, unharmed.

As for the question, "Is she a bird dog?", my response now is, "Yep, but she's really a BUG dog." And, recently someone asked, "Is she LIKE a bird dog?", I responded, "She's not LIKE a bird dog - she is a bird dog." (Perhaps a little snooty?)

I've had people stop to watch Sadie as she poses in her pointing stance. Some have stayed for 4-5 minutes just saying over and over again, "That's amazing. That's simply amazing."

within the past few weeks, someone walked by as Sadie was stalking and asked, "Is she pointing at a snake?" I said, "Naw. Just a bug." Someone asked, just today, "Is she pointing at a bird?" I said, "Naw. Just a bug." Though it's less dramatic than a snake or a bird, it's the truth. Sadie stalks bug - AND frogs.

However, when it comes to frogs, she still hasn't learned that a frog in the mouth is worth 10-15 minutes of foaming mouth. The first time she DIDN'T learn this was a few years ago when she saw a small frog on our driveway and, when the frog jumped," she attacked it and put it in her mouth. The frog emitted some distasteful substance, Sadie dropped the frog, the frog hopped away, and Sadie foamed at the mouth for 15 minutes. I still have to keep her away from frogs or watch her foam for 15 minutes.

A final story. A couple years ago, Sadie had come upon a group of small butterflies. There were 4 or 5 of them, and Sadie started stalking one. She did her "stealth" attack (poetry in motion - very slow motion), and after about 5 minutes had come within about a foot of the small insect. While she was in her point - paw up, nose pointing, and tail straight out - another butterfly landed on her tail. The butterfly stayed there until the butterfly Sadie was stalking flew away (about 2 minutes later). I took a picture which can be seen below.

It was another good morning on the Riverwalk.

INSECTS AT WORK

(AUGUST 16, 2010) This was a great morning for taking pictures - bugs and flowers. Birds are hiding in the trees and the ducks and geese occasionally do something photogenic, but not on a regular basis.

Shortly after we had started our walk, I noticed about 12 feet over my head was a beautiful tiger swallowtail butterfly, caught up in a spider web. It was frantically trying to get loose, but I was too far below it to help out.

As I was taking pictures of this frustrated beauty, a fellow walker came by and asked what I was taking pictures of. I pointed out the butterfly and said, "Well, I guess it will be food for a spider."

We continued talking and the fellow walker walked over to some debris near where the butterfly was floundering around trying to free itself. He picked up a large branch, walked over to where the butterfly was, threw the stick into the air, and the butterfly was free. It flew off. I stood there in amazement and thinking to myself, "Why hadn't I thought of that?"

Well, I guess there were two reasons. I have been in nature enough now to realize that there is life and death along the river. I guess I must have just decided that this butterfly was just a victim of nature. The second reason was just a simple one - I just didn't think about it. I regret either reason for not coming to the assistance of an animal in peril.

As we walked further, I started noticing that the insects were busily working, doing what they do - hanging around flowers and moving from flower to flower. Sadie noticed, too. She was quite taken by the small butterflies as they moved from flower to flower. She often startled small damselflies as they flittered around and landed on leaves and plants. She stayed away from the bees as they buzzed around the flowers.

As I looked closely at the insects moving about, I became quite interested in their movements. The bees and butterflies climbed all over the flowering plants, the damselflies landed on leaves and flowers, moving away whenever frightened by Sadie and then returning to the same plant, and the dragonflies as they landed on everything from the side of a concrete building to the side of a fencepost to a leaf.

Near our car on the way back, I heard a loud chirping sound. So did Sadie. She had stopped, pointed and pounced upon something before I even saw what was making the noise. It was a cicada about an inch and a half long, and it was now in Sadie's mouth. It was chirping louder, and the sound was echoing out of Sadie's mouth. She had he teeth clinched tightly, and I yelled, "SADIE. DROP IT. DROP IT, SADIE."

She did, and the cicada lay there on the ground shining under the sun. I got the picture below - the cicada in the shadow of my English setter. After we had moved on, I noticed that the cicada was moving on also.

It was another good morning on the Riverwalk.