Daybreak At The Pond

It is so good to be here visiting my daughter and son-in-law, a last visit before they head south for the winter. Unfortunately the weather has not been good, so I haven't rambled around the property as much as usual and hence, do not have any really interesting photos to post..no family of foxes posing for portraits, no wildflowers in the woods, no deer grazing on the front lawn.. lots of birds though, but none of my attempts at photographing them turned out...

Early this morning, I made a trek down to their pond hoping for some sort of sunrise photo; the cloud cover muted whatever colour there was..so my photos weren't great..but it was worth the walk down. I managed to startle a group of muskrats hanging out on the shore who were quite surprised to have someone prowling around at that time of morning and as a group, leapt into the water. Of course, I wasn't ready to click! And they remained under water and out of range for an iPhone..  so no way to follow up and get a shot...

I was surprised to see the water level of the pond so low; it is usually filled to the brim and then makes a terrific skating rink once the ice freezes.. The concern now is for the fish...how will they cope once that water freezes? It is so shallow at the moment...will the ice freeze right to the bottom of the pond? Not sure how they would survive if it did...hmmm

As I had hoped, I was able to spend part of the afternoon visiting Tim, the husband of my friend Michole who died recently, their daughter and her husband. We had a lovely visit - tears were shed, and memories shared..It was a comfort to sit in Michole's home with her family, surrounded by so many things that reminded me of her and all the good times we had together. 

So for a day that never saw the sun, it was still a good day - a visit with friends, and time with my daughter and son-in-law before they leave for a few months .. I will miss them when they fly off to where the sun shines every day, but I know it will be a wonderful winter for them doing the things they love to do..and I know they will send me fabulous photos so I can enjoy their trip vicariously!