Sunday walk.

A couple of random scenes from a new hiking spot. With perfect weather on Sunday, the great blue herons were working on their nests.

And all the rain left the river running really high that day.

I believe this place was a farm prior to becoming a nature preserve. It was a good place for a picnic. And part of the odd weekend - story to follow later.

In the meantime, the frogs. If you turn the volume all the way up, you still won't get close to how overwhelmingly loud the invisible little buggers were.

Antiquing. Sort of.

Scenes from a weekend visit that my younger son and I made to an antique store not long ago. This was a weird little pinball machine that involved shooting a small gun.

My sort of antiques - I'd have happily brought all these home with me.

I showed this bagged, broken-beaked duck to my son and he said, "Well. That's unfortunate."

While I appreciate the multicultural nature of this little family, I still find this odd. The baby owls (?) look frightened and the grandma owl looks a little irritable. And why is she hogging the nest while the grandchildren perch precariously above her?

There's something about old wrenches that make me think of robots. Or maybe storm troopers.

Seriously? Why? I mean, I can understand... No. No, I can't. Just why?

Whew, good thing they have a padlock on this cabinet - someone might steal all that pink shit!

$48.50 for a deranged ceramic horse. Yeah. I'll be putting that one on my wish list.

Siiimmbaaa!  Remember who you arrrre! (You are apparently the offspring of a gilded, snake-eyed lion.)

Got nostalgia for the 70's? Have I got a deal for you!

Oh for the love of... just put some clothes on the poor little thing, will ya?

Not all dreams happen while you sleep.

So the other day (Southern for some time in the indeterminate but not terribly distant past), I was driving home and saw this hawk inexplicably standing in a neighbor's yard.  I got a photo with my phone, but had to go back with my camera to see that the hawk was grounded because it was guarding its kill, a poor bunny.

One form of dream interpretation is to see each character in a dream as some aspect of yourself. But why limit yourself to material in your unconscious life? Meaning-makers that we humans are, we tend to see symbolism in events around us.  I took this photo just prior to my blog hiatus.  In fact, it served as a prodding for me to get some clarity for myself. This is how I'm choosing to interpret this serendipitous sighting: The rabbit is the less certain part of me, fearful of taking risks because of the potential harm and easily taken advantage of. Don't get me wrong - I love rabbits. They are soft and cute and I don't even begrudge them filching squash from my garden. But models of strength, they are not. Hawks, on the other hand, are my personal totem animal. Whenever I need  a reminder of my own strength, I see one.  nd what I needed in my life right now is to let the fearless part of me take over. I'm grateful to this hawk who waited obligingly while I drove home, got my camera, and returned. I needed it brought to my attention that sometimes I need to subdue my own fears and stand my ground.

Feeling stretched a little thin...

And when I get this way, I know it's best for me to back off temporarily, feed myself, and give myself time to sort out my thoughts. I won't be long.