This and that

Sometimes in the course of exploring, you see things that pique your interest because they are odd, unusual or different...

like a muskrat playing the recorder...

or doing water ballet.

Equally startling, is to look down and see this looking back...

or this...

or this; but so much cuter than the carp, ugh.

Sometimes you see things in unusual places...

or acting like a different species..

These squirrels seemed to be channeling their inner monkey.

One afternoon there was an unexpected dark presence in the forest. I felt as though I needed to request permission to enter its realm.

The number of turtles sunning on these logs was really eye-catching. 

Equally eye-catching was this busy group of tent caterpillars. They did not however evoke the same response. Shudder.

Sunny days on the path often mean sightings of other wiggly things, like this little DeKay snake... 

or this Ribbon Snake. Being that I do not generally wander in amongst the reeds, I had not made the acquaintance of one of these before. 

Something huge and ancient rose up from the muddy depths of this pond. It had to be great grandfather snapping turtle. He was very imposing.

By contrast, this little painted turtle had climbed a long ways up this branch to improve his vantage point of the pond. Maybe he saw the movie Titanic.

And who is not beguiled by new calves flopped out on a sunny hillside like a litter of sleepy puppies? 

It is unusual to get this close to a Blue Heron,

and a rare privilege to watch him catch his lunch.

Another rare sighting was this fuzzy black sausage with a tail wandering along the side of the road beside my car. Star-nosed Moles are virtually blind, live underground and near water, so I had not seen one before. His nostrils are surrounded by 22 rays that help it to navigate and sense food. If you put your wrists together and spread out your fingers in opposite directions you will get a sense of what the star looks like. Kinda weird eh?

But awesome. I cropped the photo so the nose shows. 

When I took a closer look at this photo, I saw not only the bullfrog, but eyes looking out of the water at me...creepy.

I discovered that these odd things...

grow into these large bracket fungus, and in a very short time.

I also discovered that these do not show up when you Google "lumpy orange fungus". 

Trees are endlessly fascinating. They have curious engravings..

carvings..

and slime. This is apparently called Slime Flux, and occurs when an injury to the tree gets a bacterial infection. Interesting, but pretty gross.

I didn't know that Canada Geese built duplex nests...

or that some trees like to grow up, while lying down, 

or that ferns have such beautiful and intricate patterns.

It is an established fact in my family, that I am easily distracted. While it is a bit frustrating for my children if they are expecting to have a linear conversation with me, they know to expect the unexpected and are patient. For me, exploring is all about the unexpected, the curious, the unusual, just as much as it is about the lovely, the intricate, and the expected. It is important to see what is in the periphery and enjoy the serendipitous.