Intent on savoring the lingering loveliness of summer’s blue skies, we’ve been out and about this week…Hiked up Scout twice. Didn’t bother taking the camera along. Rats! Because it was the coming down that proved interesting! As we emerged out of the dense trees onto the green soccer field at the base of the mountain I thought I heard a sort of grunting sound followed by a raspy scrabbling effect…
And then there they were within a dozen yards—Mama Bear, and three cuddly toddlers, one of whom was up the fork of a fir tree very near us. Just loitering in the park, startled by our appearance, as much as we were by theirs! But alas, I was without my camera. sigh. I retreated only reluctantly. And from a more distant vantage point realized there was another Mama and her twins dawdling at the lawn’s edge not far beyond the ones we’d startled. Hmm… fine day for a (teddy) bear picnic I guess!
Yesterday we got out with friends to discover the Stillwater Bluffs people here rave about—great rock slabs covered in dry moss and lichen, adorned with arbutus and gnarly old firs towering above the oceans’ glinting expanse…
The cacophony of sea lion babble on a nearby islet wafted over, a humorously accurate but muted imitation of a dirtbike rally!
After a thorough bit of basking in the heat atop the bluff we headed down to tuck our toes in the still waters of a tidal pool
and introduce ourselves to the locals. Meet Hermie.
All under the calm blue sky of this lingering Indian Summer…
–LS
