Sunday Snap: Introvert

“‘Come out of your shell’ – that noxious expression which fails to appreciate that some animals naturally carry shelter everywhere they go and some humans are just the same.” – Susan Cain

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Forces of Nature

Once again, iceberg season has arrived in Newfoundland.

Icebergs are beautiful to photograph and are a huge Force of Nature ( we only have to think of the Titanic disaster ) but the pack ice that often accompanies them can wreak their own special havoc. In our part of the world, these masses of moving ice interfere with fishing and sometimes even trap whales and dolphins.

In the area of Bonavista Bay North where I live, the water is too shallow to allow the big icebergs to get very close, but we do see plenty of pack ice and bergy bits.

Enter the seagulls. These hardy scavenger birds are so well-adapted to this rugged environment, I am in awe. Their ability to not only survive, but to thrive here, may well be called another force of nature.

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Like all of our feathered friends in the northern hemisphere, seagulls mate in spring. This is the time of year in Newfoundland we see them answer to their instinct and pair off to procreate. They are monogamous, usually with one mate for life.

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On the evening I took these photos, the setting sun cast interesting shadows and hues upon the ice and the water.

Of course, speaking of a force of nature, our Vivian needed to be a part of it all.blogw (15)

What Forces of Nature do you have in your backyard?

Cat’s Eye

She is solitary,
silent as a spectre,
outside on another tentative
feline adventure.

On soft freckled pads, with
green eyes ever searching,
she sees, hears, smells the world
the way it is. Its cold reality.

Her white whiskered face
suddenly feral and hungry, she
runs, returns home to the warm lap
she has grown to trust.

No longer silent, but with rattling purrs,
she nuzzles and exchanges
a sandpaper kiss for the expected
morsel of love.

In that little Cat’s eye
that sees my soul and stares into
my heart
there is nowhere to hide.

I see my reflection.