For years I kept journals -- in composition, spiral bound, and French graph paper books. This blog is an attempt to get back to writing and documenting the world around me using photos, newspaper headlines, and other articles.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Birding

I took my 4 mile run this morning on the Wallis Sands route that I mapped out a couple of weeks ago.  It was cold this monring so I wore long running tights, a sports tank and a long sleeve shirt, hat, gloves and a scarf.  Early on as I was concentrating on getting my breath, I went along an area where there is this grass that is really high.  You can't see the marsh area behind it. 




Suddenly, I heard a loud squawk and looked up to find two crows sitting on the telephone wires.  It felt like they were saying good morning.  They made me laugh.  It was the first time that I actively wished I had an iPod or phone with a good camera so that I could have taken a picture of the two birds.  I went back after my run to see if they were still there, but they weren't.  So here is the pole, sans crows.



Right before the little bridge on 1A I had found my stride. 



I looked down to my left in the tidal area and there was a great blue heron.  Another opportunity missed.  It was so close to me and it didn't fly away as I ran over the bridge.  I felt so lucky to have been right there, up close and personal with the heron.  Majestic.  Glorious.

At the end of the four miles, I didn't feel as tired as I did the previous time I ran that route.  Progress.  I ran it 17 seconds slower, but that isn't bad considering on Tuesday I had run 4 miles.  I haven't ran that distance back to back before.  I finished up my exercise with stretches down on the sand.  I love being at the beach -- the sound of the waves, the briny smell, the way that it is the opposite of claustrophobia when standing on the shoreline, looking out at the vast ocean all the way to the horizon.   Liberating, perspective, peaceful, energizing, awesome are words I associate with the beach.  What is not to love?






When I left the beach, I went back to see if the heron was there, and it wasn't.  Of course.  But I did get a nice shot of the Wentworth Hotel.




There were two birds that posed for me: one was a seagull on a rock by the Seacoast Science Center. 




And the other was on top of a chimney.




Closer to the traffic circle with Route 1A and the road into Rye Center, there was a house with pumpkins all along their stone wall.  The past couple of times I've driven by, I didn't pull over and take a picture, but today I did.  The pumpkins were moldy and some were smashed, but the look from afar was still the same.


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