Life in the Bristolwood

Michelle had to be at our friend, Cindy’s house at nine this morning. As is customary, I picked up my purse and the camera bag as we headed out the door.  Feeling that close tie to the eagles,  I took the “lower road”….the one that runs next to the lake.  As we drove past Woodville, I asked Michelle to see if she could see the eagle or eagles.  Her reply was  affirmative so I was excited!

I dropped Michelle off and then drove towards Woodville once again.  As I pulled into the boat launch, I could not believe what I saw! Perching slouched on a dead tree in the water was a blue heron! I carefully removed my camera from the bag and got prepared to shoot. As soon as the camera was in my hand, I saw that dreaded “E” on the top.  “E”, as in empty, which soon became “E” as in emotional! 

I was so discouraged that not only was my SD card NOT in the slot on my camera, but feelings were compounded by the fact that I had no backup card. I looked up towards the tree where the eagle had been perched earlier. Yes, it was still there.  Drat! As I watched, my ear heard the familiar “screech” of an eagle, and suddenly, another circled around and landed just above the other! This was such a cool opportunity, and I so totally missed it.

I got back into the Explorer with such fury, I wasn’t sure if I was going to scream or cry!

I hurried  home, explained to Mark that I needed to get back down to Woodville, grabbed a small SD card, then raced drove back to Woodville.  Well, it was bad enough that I missed my grand chance,  but now there was a cycling event and bicycles were traveling all over the road, slowing me down!

By the time I finally reemerged in Woodville, the heron was so gone. I stared at the tree with great distaste.  Ah well, there was an interesting photo op of the low-lying clouds seemingly resting above the lake….

I looked about and my eye was attracted to such a pretty bright pink flower of some sort. There certainly HAD to be some type of silver lining in this day!

I’m not sure when I had seen the surface of the lake this glasslike! The water was so still, it almost exuded an “eery” feeling!

Feeling so defeated about my missed opportunity, I vowed that I will always, ALWAYS have a spare SD card with me.  I had taken the one from the Nikon out last night to view my photos on the computer screen, via the built in card reader.  Every now and then when I do this, I accidentally forget to remove the card and put it back into the camera.

As I was about ready to swing into the Explorer,  I looked up!

Yes, there was the eagle, sitting nonchalantly in the tree! You must excuse the poor quality of this photo, but the bird was probably about a quarter of a mile away from me and my camera!

So, I guess I shan’t kick myself quite so hard!