A Surprise

Today, the grey sky and on again, off again rain continued.  More leaves fell from the trees.

I decided to tackle an indoor chore, or at least; start the chore - cleaning and organizing my studio a..k.a. my quilting/sewing room.  This room has become a catch all for most everything in addition to sewing and craft supplies - dirty clothes, mending, ironing, books (non-sewing specific), photographs, miscellaneous 'to keep' paperwork (a lot of it), old computer and assorted paraphernalia (which I have not used for years), plants, packing materials (I use about 1/20 th of what I store each year),  wrapping paper...well, I think you get the idea.  You would think this room is huge with all the stuff stored there - it is not.   I just am getting really good at stacking.

My actual sewing/craft/quilting supplies are neatly boxed and labeled, and nestled into their appropriate spaces within the room and generous storage space.

It is all that other stuff, that is piled on and over my necessities, that I need to:  find a new location, put in the delegated location, recycle or do I dare say it, 'throw it out'.  Again I remind you...I am a genuine, bonifide pack rat!

The gist of the day is that between all my cleaning, organizing, moving items about; I constantly look out the windows at the views, the constantly changing colors, the birds, the rain - my entire outside world.

Looking at our pond, which is quite a distance from our house, I noticed something different - what looked like a fence post near the edge of the water.  Now, I know that post was not there earlier, but I could not make the object out distinctly.  Binoculars were in order. 

Sure enough, by the pond's edge was a beautiful, majestic heron hunting our fish.

I thought the herons had left our area for the season, so I was quite surprised to see the slender, and tall, bird.  Upon further research, I learned that the herons are non-migrators in Virginia.  Yep, this fabulous bird is here, in Virginia, year-round.  Where have I been looking?  I guess I am not as observant as I thought I was.

These are the times I wish I had a telephoto lens for my camera - I would have gotten an unbelievable photo.  Instead, I got a so-so distant photo.  But, you know what, I will keep it!

Fish or no fish, regardless of my misgivings; the sight of this heron made my day - my bonus.    And, October continues to reward!