Late Summer: Skytop Farm Pond in Mist

It has begun again. The mist, I mean. In late July into August, we get some of the finest mistiest mornings imaginable. And I for one am a lover of the mist. When I see it rising, I must go, I must go; I must grab my camera and I must go!

I couldn't help myself. I made four quick stops on this misty morning. On a Monday, in fact, when I am not usually out and about. But I had several morning meetings in the office, and so I had a reason. An excuse, as it were, to drive off into the delicious mist.

And so I stopped at the little pond on Granny Lane. The rowboats were out of the water, and they were surrounded by a tiny meadow of Queen Anne's lace; huge spider webs bedecked the little dock. At Gray's Cemetery, the gnarled tree lovingly clutched the tombstones to its bosom in the mist. Along Sawmill Road, Amish carpenters removed a barn roof while the farmer's tree row sat looking quietly serene in the fog.

And then finally, there was this: the little pond at Skytop Farm. I couldn't resist a stop. And I got out of my car and walked around, taking a few pictures. This end of the pond and then that. And a few shots after this one, I heard the distinctive "Fwoop fwoop fwoop!" that can only mean one thing.

A heron that I never even saw until that point suddenly rose from among the trees and flew away! I can't believe that with all of my walking around, I never saw it. I was lucky enough once to capture a picture of a great blue heron at this spot. And so perhaps, somewhere in this photo, a heron (maybe even that very same one!) is lurking. But I did not see it then, and I do not see it now. It is a creature of the mist . . .

The song to accompany this image has to be about mist. And so here is Paul McCartney, with Mull of Kintyre. We'll even throw in some bagpipes, for the bagpipe lovers!