The Forest Has Eyes

This weekend was a wonderful one. I've been craving raw nature and we chose to spend our Saturday in God's great cathedral instead of going to church. We loaded our canoe which we've named "Buddy" (after the dear, old canoe in Sam Campbell's books) and headed for the lazy river South of us. The river meanders here and there and has made so many cuts that there are scores of sloughs and fabulous places to view birds. We put in at a slough and paddled to the river and shortly saw a bald eagle fishing. Along the way we saw a Kingfisher and Great Blue Heron. The autumn leaves were lovely - and comforting. Just when we thought it couldn't get better, I was scanning the woods with my eyes and suddenly caught sight of a tiny, masked, round face watching me from about 50 feet up in a snag. It was a raccoon. I stammered out my surprise and just as my family caught sight of it, two tiny faces popped up beside Mama. We stopped the canoe and sat there "visiting" with them. They curiously watched us until they grew bored and settle back into their cozy nest. What fun! -Nanette