Good Week

Hi friends,

Last week was a good week. I’ve started going out into nature immediately after work. When it’s an office day, I bring an extra change of clothes, change and do some yoga stretches at my gym, then head to the trails. If I go straight home, I find I tend to feel too tired to get back out there again. When it’s a work from home day I’m already in my hiking clothes and very ready to get out in the fresh air come quitting time. It’s working well.

The fall migrations are underway and there are fewer birds about, so I’ve leaned into photographing the robust wood duck population that’s still hanging around my usual marsh destination. I’ve discovered that around 5:30pm about a dozen of them gather in one sunny section of the marsh and bathe/splash about for about 10 minutes. After dunking themselves, they rise up out of the water, flapping their wings to dry off. It’s an impressive spectacle, and I’ve loved capturing it.

Fun facts:

• I have not turned on my television even once since returning from New Zealand in May. I’m not entirely sure why.
• I have bought a mini-waffle maker (this one, which has, incredibly, over 240,000 reviews on Amazon) and have discovered the yumminess that is a “chaffle”.
• Coca-cola has come out with an Oreo flavored coke and I’m a little obsessed with it. I try not to drink too much cola because of my bones, but now and then – yum (and Chloe, yes, I drink the zero sugar version).
• There is an outdoor concert venue not terribly far from the marsh I frequent, and the other night I heard music and wondered who was playing. Turns out it was Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, Alison Krauss, and Robert Plant. What a lineup, right? But I thought to myself, “Bob Dylan is still alive? He must be absolutely ancient!” So I looked up his age. Bob Dylan is 83. Willie Nelson is 91.
• If you think you’ll avoid the crowds by going to the laundromat when they open at 7am on Sunday morning, you will have woefully misjudged the situation
• There is a new book out by Richard Osman (of Thursday Murder Club fame) called “We Solve Murders” and I just might have to purchase it for reading on my upcoming trip to New Zealand, because I’m currently 120th in line for the library version.

I hope you have a wonderful week, my dears!

Love,

Michelle xoxo