Oh, hello.

Hi everybody.

How are you?

I've been taking a lot of long morning walks. Mostly in the usual places, but on Friday, I went in to work early and hiked a trail I've never been on. It was magical. I was surrounded by tall tulip poplar trees, and I heard eagles by the river, and saw a belted kingfisher. Later in the day, we saw the eagles overhead. There were three of them. We also saw this guy, a Chinese mantis, catch and eat a spotted lanternfly. It was like something from Wild Kingdom. 

I cannot stress enough how much these walks are keeping me sane right now. Please try to spend a little time outside if you can. Listen to birds. It will help you. There's science to prove it! (And also science to prove that we need lawn machine silencers. I TOLD you guys). 

Anyway, here are a few pictures of things I have seen on my walks this weekend:

Can you spot the kingfisher?

Black bear scat with pawpaw seeds.

Have I told you guys about the pillow basalt rock formation at work? This rock was formed millions of years ago when Banshee Reeks was at the bottom of an ancient ocean, where a volcano erupted and the lava cooled quickly and formed this pillow-y looking structure. Isn't that cool? I think it looks like that guy from the Fantastic Four.

I'm not sure who this belongs to.

Bumblebee and thistle.

Bald Eagle.

Sidewalk fungi.

Quercus alba.

The flowers at Pie Island are still blooming.

Yesterday marked the first appearance of my yello hat for the season.

This morning it was cool and foggy, and there were signs of fall, but still not a ton of colorful trees. 

Most of the colorful leaves are on the ground. 

My brother has launched a substack. I think it is really good. Extremely thoughtful musings on our current situation. Please take a look and feel free to share. 

I'm off to listen to side A-2 of my new Jeff Tweedy record before I go to work. There are six sides. I'm trying to make them last a while. I hope you are doing OK. Go outside. Listen to birds. Go back inside. Listen to good music. Repeat as needed.

Onward.