Show me the way to go home

On Saturday morning, my husband had the idea that he wanted to take a drive down to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, in Delaware. It's just under an hour from our home and he thought it would be fun to do something so familiar and relaxing.

He loves Starbucks, and he suggested we stop at one on the way and we could have a little something to drink and eat en route.

It sounded like an excellent idea to me, and early in the morning, we found ourselves driving in our little Honda Element with the windows half down on a glorious autumn morning. The sun was warm and shining as we headed south and after stopping for sustenance, and that first sip of cappuccino (his favorite) it felt like old times.

Snow geese on the water.

See how they resemble snow when they're all together?

My husband saw a Great Blue Heron along the road. I posted it the other day on my Picture A Day blog. I walked close to him and he took off.

This is just a group of ducks sunning themselves and having a bite to eat.

I think it was a little too early (post-surgery) for a trip this long. My husband wasn't as comfortable as he thought he would be and when he realized that he couldn't get out of the car and walk, I think it angered him. We live and learn, don't we? Maybe the next trip will be a very small one.

Regardless, the day was beautiful and it felt good to be in motion, even for just for a little while.

If you click on these photos, you'll actually see the entire photo. I'm trying something Hilary taught me with my pictures. Usually I size them and upload them in blogger, but half the time you can't click on them to view larger. This way, I'm sizing them in Photoshop to a percentage and uploading them into Photobucket and then into blogger, and I think I sized them a litttle bit too big. But I am tired and I wanna go to bed.

Show me the way to go home

I'm tired and I want to go to bed

I had a little drink about an hour ago

and it went straight to my head

Wherever I may roam

On land or sea or foam

You will always hear me singing this song

Show me the way to go home

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

PS ~ I see that most of them can't be clicked on. I am going to give up. I've posted this twice and the first time, I could click on all of them. Blogger is the devil. Do you hear me Blogger? Or maybe this template is the devil. Sorry you can't click. Oy vey.

Slow Day at the Wildlife Refuge

Gray skies, cold weather and winds this morning left me feeling like taking a drive somewhere and when the wildlife refuge was brought up, I said okay. Usually it's a yawnfest for me because I'm not the birder in the family. But I've got a good camera and a zoom lens and so I don't mind it so much these days. We haven't been there since I last posted about it, which was around the holidays. That time I got lucky and took a great photo of a fox, as well as a great blue heron in flight. Today, however, there was nothing going on while we were there. We did see a couple of Buffleheads, both a male and a female. The male is unmistakable with the big triangle of white on his head. The female was paddling against the current and holding her own with it, going under to eat and coming back up. Buffleheads are most frequently encountered in wintertime, and I read that they're really quite tame and have a spirited disposition. When they're in flight, they're very fast with rapid wingbeats. Aren't you glad you learned all this? Geez, I'm a fount of information here with my husband's bird books. Where's that tea I poured? I'm still freezing . . .

Quiet Day at Bombay Hook

As soon as we arrived at the wildlife sanctuary, the sun went in and didn't come out again. What was a sunny day when we took off from home turned into gray skies and chillier temps. My bird shots were too far away and the light wasn't right, but I did manage to get this Red Fox from the window of the car. The Great Blue Heron landed and as I was taking photos of him hunting, he decided to take off and luckily, I was right on it. I have been chided for not being able to get the shots of the Bald Eagles flying. But I'm over it. There's always another day.