Lazy Me Enjoying Nature

Exercise: the bane of my existence. As you may recall, I joined a gym this year. I did OK (not great, but OK) at first. Lately I have not been going at all. I even went in and attempted to cancel my membership, but the manager, who is quite a good salesperson, convinced me not to. It does makes sense; I need to exercise for my health and longevity.

So.. since then I have not yet been back to the gym! Of course not! You have to drag me, kicking and screaming, to an exercise session.

This morning I decided to take a walk outside. It's such a pretty morning. Now I'm paying a gym membership so I can walk outside. LOL! Well, when it gets hot and humid, I'll be glad to have an air conditioned space to go to, once I manage to make it through the kicking and screaming stage.

During my walk today, this is what I enjoyed observing: birds! Beautiful lake reflections! Bird songs! Green grass and leaves! What a beautiful day!

I saw a bird like this, almost exactly in this pose in the small lake I walk past. I startled it, and it flew away, which was also a pretty sight. I am not sure what the bird is that I saw.. I think this photo is an egret, but do we have egrets in Minnesota? I don't even know. Maybe what I saw was a heron.



I saw a female wood duck that looked a lot like this:



I saw red-winged blackbirds, and a bunch of others that I could not name. The variety of songs is amazingly beautiful, too.

The lake I walk past was like a mirror this morning, so when birds flew low over it, they looked like this, but even better, with no ripples! So pretty!



If walking could always be this enjoyable, maybe I would keep doing it almost every day. I'll try (again)! Wish me luck!

A Family of Birds

I posted this photo on July 7 and said I thought nothing was happening inside, except maybe the hanging around of a sad Bachelor Bird who just couldn't find Mrs. Right.



Well, I was wrong! This week, while enjoying my new Kindle which I gifted to myself, I spent some time lounging on our deck, reading. And what did I hear but a bunch of baby birds screeching for food, and I noticed a mommy bird hustling back and forth from the birdhouse to the woods, again and again and again, finding food for her babies. When she came back they would all screech and beg "me, me, me!" and hope to get the gift of food. It is so cute and special to sit on one's deck and listen to a Bird Family growing and learning right there in the side yard. What a treat!