...Welcome Home

Dudley: Welcome home, lady.
Me: Thanks, Dud. But what's with the white stuff?
Dudley: We heard you going on and on about the white beaches and thought this would make you feel better about being home
Me: Well, it doesn't.
Dudley: Too bad. Enough about you. We are going to strike if you don't make today another Squirrel Appreciation Day. And we want peanuts!
Me: Are you freaking serious?
Dudley: Like a heart attack, lady.

Yep, snow. But at least the squirrels and birdies were all on hand to greet me this morning.

Meanwhile, I am off to the doctor. The day we flew to FL, I started having some pretty bad pain in my shoulder/arm/neck. I've been chowing down Advil until we could get home and I could get in to see my doctor. Based on the fact that the pain hasn't gotten any better in six days, I suspect that I may have torn or badly stressed something when I was shoveling icy snow before we left. So, we'll see what the doc has to say.

I have started the process of going through my 800 + photos from the trip - have already whittled it down to under 400 and hope to finish the initial sort/edit today. I have to say that I am SO very pleased withe some of the shots I got! So many new life birds for me. It is very different photographing big birds - for starters, they move slower and their flight path is more predictable than the smaller song birds. And, in Florida, they seem to be very used to humans, which allows the photographer to get incredibly close. There were actually times when I had to back up a few paces to accommodate the minimum shooting distance for Big Daddy! I suppose if you live amongst these large wading birds all the time, you get used to seeing them and maybe some of the thrill wears off. But for me, being a few feet from a pelican or an egret or a heron ... sheer magic! Definitely a trip to remember.

Thank you all so much for your hearts, stars and comments on my FL blips - and thank you for sharing my excitement! I will catch up with journals this week - but first I need to catch up with work. And don't tell anyone, but my birthday is this Wednesday... shhhh.

xxoo
Debbi (and the Tallyho critters)