Rehearsals (and more bryology*)

Mr. Mallard resting  upon a log.

I noticed him while driving down the Cutoff, stopped the car, pulled my camera out, rolled the window down and took his photograph. He seemed quite content sitting there. I rolled the window up and off I went, noticing a resident of the house across the way. He was watching me watching Mr. Mallard.  It was when I downloaded the photo that I noticed Mr. Mallard’s reflection in the murky pond. Both Mr. Mallard and his reflection, contemplating a growing family, perhaps, and listening to a full chorus of spring peepers, who were practicing for their evening performance.

Sometimes, the rehearsal is better than the actual performance.

*Bryology

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It’s easy being green …

The view outside our windows is an emerald sea these days, from our worn out lawn wearing a freshened suit of moss, to the emerging leaves on trees and bushes. The ferns are unfurling, the lily of the valley showing tiny buds, and the roses are promising blooms sometime soon. I feel a bit like Kermit the Frog, only with a positive spin on the words to the song that helped to make him famous, as I sing out “it is easy being green”.

On a recent walk around Lake Katherine, one of Kermit’s relatives was splashing in the mud,

and a pair of Mallards became mighty friendly as they waddled over to where Tom and I were bench sitting, begging for a handout. Mrs. Mallard came a-quacking right over to our knees. As tempting as it is, I do not bring morsels of bread to feed geese and ducks as it is not good for them to take food from strangers now, is it?

Well, I have a bit of list a mile long today, so, I’d best get off of this log I’ve been sitting upon, and get out and about with the day before me, which includes finishing up “Mrs. Queen Takes the Train”, composing the minutes from a meeting I’m charged to do, give the basil sitting on the countertop a home in a pot on the deck, and maybe sit for a spell in the arbor and count my blessings.

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