This is just a short post to wish you happy holidays! The weather here in the Midwest has been just beautiful, and unseasonably warm, the past few days – and promises to remain this way for a few more days. I’m definitely taking advantage of this… today I took a good walk around Staring Lake with one of my Barred Owl friends, and it was lovely. I didn’t even have to wear a coat!
On one of the walks I’ve taken recently (not far from my house), I found some great cat prints preceding me down the trail (photo above). Very cool – that isn’t something you see every day!
I also participated, for the first time, in Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count over the past weekend. I chose to go out at night to survey nocturnal birds, but only found a single Barred Owl over the course of three hours. I enjoyed myself, nonetheless. There were coyotes serenading me at one checkpoint, and I was treated to the brilliant sight of several meteors from the Geminid meteor shower, which peaked Thursday and Friday of last week. It was a bit windy, but otherwise it was a clear and star-filled night – and I was very happy to be out wandering under that sky!
I also wanted to mention that I’ve begun to develop a merchandise store front via CafePress, featuring many of the photos I’ve been posting on this website. I’ve just begun, so there are only a few photos (themes) on the site so far. But if you’re looking for any last-minute Christmas gifts, take a look… you might find just what you’ve been looking for! The site is organized by theme, which you will find on the menu bar at the left of the screen. Each theme features one of my photos, and there is a variety of merchandise to be found under each of the themes. I’ve added a new page to the blog, under the Trail Markers tab, called Travel Trove, where you can find the link to my shop, and hopefully links to more nature and rambling-related stores in the future. But you can access the shop here as well, it’s also called Forest Wandering.
I’m going to try to get in another post or two before the end of the year… with all this wonderful weather, I should be able to get out for some good rambles! But if I don’t, I wish you and your loved ones a very joyous and wonderful holiday season!
