The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

"Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." - Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine, Casablanca.

Since the latest snow, I have spotted tiny (less than one inch long) deer tracks in our yard and in the surrounding areas, so I believe that ONE of our fawns from summertime is still alive and kicking. During the high heat of summer, we had a whole deer family living under our deck, including a young buck, a mature doe, a younger doe, and two fawns.

I was walking in a fresh skiff of snow on Tow Hill on this morning, when I spotted the tracks of the little deer. And I grieved a bit, looking at those tracks, and thinking that the poor thing was all alone these days, with winter coming on and the coldest days ahead.

But then I spotted a small set of cat prints that tracked along, exactly, with the little deer tracks. Maybe that isn't how it happened at all, but it amused me and warmed my heart to think of the two of them, the little fawn and the cat,* walking up the hill in the snow together, side by side.

Above you may see a photo of the tracks. On the right are the cat tracks. On the left are the deer tracks, which are shaped like hearts, with the pointy end of the heart pointing in the direction of travel. Have I accidentally captured some kind of Bambi-and-Thumper (or Louis-and-Rick) type moment? Wouldn't it be pretty to think so?

My soundtrack song is this one: Pat Benatar, with Let's Stay Together. I can't help myself; I also have to toss in this one from the film Casablanca, where the title of this blip comes from: here is As Time Goes By.

P.S. I added this note later. I just realized (May 2023) that the cat walking with our fawn . . . was Jensen!