Standing Into Danger

Friday, November 14, 2025

Landscape Stories

I'm still out and about, enjoying this unseasonably warm autumn,
mid-November and no snow!

Sunny and 70º Fahrenheit (21º Celsius) ~ Really?!!

On Saturday November 8th, I went over to Red-Tailed Hawk Park

which is a hop, skip, and a jump away to the north,

the continuation of "my"section of park and open space along Piney Creek.

The regional Piney Creek Trail that follows the creek meanders for about ten miles

from S. Coolidge Way near the Douglas County Line in the south

to Cherry Creek State Park in the north.

"My" section is the southernmost part of the trail, about 3/4 of a mile (1.2 kilometers) long.

Faded Rabbitbrush Blooms

Red-Tailed Hawk Park

Along Piney Creek, Aurora, Colorado, USA

November 8, 2025

I haven't been in Red-tailed Hawk Park for well over a year,

thanks to traveling, home renovations, and the ongoing

construction of condos on the western side of the park.

People living in the new condos certainly have easy access

to a delightful area to walk, run, and bike.

Condos Have Sprouted Near the Piney Creek Trail

Red-Tailed Hawk Park

Along Piney Creek, Aurora, Colorado, USA

November 8, 2025

I was worried that the condo development would have adversely affected the park,

especially the nearby prairie dog town and a stand of cottonwood trees that I love.

But the prairie dogs looked fat and alert and yipped intensely when I approached,

and the cottonwood trees were as beautiful as ever.

Unfortunately my iPhone zoom lens doesn't do the prairie dogs justice.

On Alert!

November 8, 2025

On Alert!

November 8, 2025

This prairie dog is a black-tailed prairie dog, as, of course, are all the others.

These fascinating animals have a complex communication system.

Their alarm cries convey information about predators,

including the species, its size, and shape.

They are thought to be able to convey the color of clothing worn by humans!

I wonder what this one was saying about me! 😂

When I reached the boardwalk crossing the ponds and reeds,

I discovered that the reeds had exploded, pressing in on all sides.

Almost no water was visible.

Claustrophobia!

I came across mysterious areas where huge swaths of reeds had been flattened.

No resting mule deer could have done this!

Collapsed Reeds

From what I could find out, the sheer force of strong winds and storms,

especially with heavy rain, can break and flatten tall dense reeds.

Other possible causes are rapid changes in water levels, strong water currents,

or the accumulated weight of heavy snowfall and ice that collapse the reeds.

Everywhere I look the landscape speaks to me in stories.

Countless Reeds

A Small Patch of Open Water in a Sea of Reeds

Hardy Duckweed Thrives Wherever It Can

Milkweed is Spreading Everywhere

The cottonwood stand that I love is very close to the new condo development,

but it doesn't look trampled or overrun.

Cottonwood trees are such exuberant, messy, fast growing trees.

If you see cottonwood trees in a prairie landscape, you know there is water nearby.

No matter the season, cottonwood trees delight my senses.

Each tree is unique, rich in textures, and a host

for birds, insects, squirrels, and other animals.

A New Entrance to the Cottonwood Stand

An Inviting Space of Sunshine and Shadow

Brittle Branches Often Break

Beautiful in Death and Decay

Awash with Textures

Insects Winter Over in Drifts of Cottonwood Leaves

Most of all, I love the black-tailed prairie dogs,

like them I am small and intense, and I feel an affinity for them.

Not that I want to live in a hole in the ground! 😂

Prairie Dog Burrow #1

Prairie Dog Burrow #2

Prairie dog are a keystone species that many plants and animals depend on to survive.

Their burrows protect prairie dogs from predators and flash flooding,

but they also provide homes for other animals like burrowing owls and rattlesnakes.

Prairie dogs keep the prairie grasses around their burrows clipped.

This allows other weeds and forbs to grow.

Constant grazing by prairie dogs increases the nutritional content of plants

which benefits other prairie grazers like bison, bighorn sheep, and pronghorn.

Prairie Dog Town #1

Prairie Dog Town #3

Prairie Dog Town #4

Prairie Dogs Peeking Out

Here's to spending time in nature.

It calms your mind and fills your soul.

Tomorrow my sister Donnie is coming to visit for a week.

I am so excited.

Donnie and I On a Ferry Crossing Petite or Grand Passage

Long and Brier Islands, Nova Scotia, Canada

July 31, 2018

I hope you have an awesome weekend too!

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue

Standing Into Danger https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com

My next post will be

Friday, November 21st, 2025 🤞

Wednesday, November 5, 2025

IWSG: Wednesday, November 5, 2025 ~ Dreams Deferred

It's the first Wednesday of the month,
the day that members of the
Insecure Writer's Support Group
share their writing struggles
and writing successes
and offer their encouragement
and support to fellow writers.

To visit the IWSG website, click here.

To become a member of the IWSG, click here.

Our wonderful co-hosts who are volunteering today,
along with IWSG Founder Alex J. Cavanaugh are

Jennifer Lane, Jenni Enzor, Renee Scattergood, Rebecca Douglass, Lynn Bradshaw, and Melissa Maygrove!

Stop by their posts and thank them for hosting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every month the IWSG announces a question that members can answer
with advice, insight, a personal experience, or a story in their IWSG posts.

Or, the question can inspire members
if they aren't sure what to write about on IWSG Day.

Remember the question is optional.

This month's optional question is:

When you began writing, what did you imagine your life as a writer would be like? Were you right, or has this experience presented you with some surprises along the way?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy November, Everyone!

I hope all is well with each of you.

The first stories I remember writing was when I was eight and nine in third grade.

But as much as I enjoyed writing them, I knew I would not make my living as a writer.

Christmas Eve 1958 ~ The Year I Began Writing

My Brother Roy and I (Holding Gretchen Still)

with My Sisters Barb and Donnie

My youngest Sister Bertie would be born in March 1959.

Margaretsville, Nova Scotia, Canada

I knew from the time I was three or four that I was expected to go to university,

and not just any university, but Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

It was drilled into me that I would become a strong, independent woman

who could stand on my own two feet and not be dependent on a man to support me.

University Hall, Acadia University

Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada

2000s ~ Date Uncertain

Seventy years ago this was a radical idea in Atlantic Canada,

but it came from the struggles of women on both sides of my family,

women who were widowed and left to support themselves and sometimes their children.

My father was as determined as my mother that their four daughters

would graduate from university as well as their only son.

And we all did graduate from Acadia.

My Great Grandmother Sara Cossaboom ~ One Very Strong Woman

Widowed at a Young Age with Four Girls to Raise

Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada ~ Date Unknown

I wrote a lot during my careers as a geologist and a teacher,

but my creative writing dreams were deferred.

I did manage to publish a few creative things ~

but I wasn't able to focus on my nonprofessional writing until I retired.

And that's perfectly okay!

I'm proud of myself for becoming a strong, independent woman

able to stand on my own two feet.

I have experienced great joy in my retirement years as a blogger, a writer of short stories,

a diarist/journalist, and a memoirist.

I have big writing dreams that I continue to pursue.

Finally a Real Writer!

Copies of Voyager: The Third Ghost Arrive

Photo by Terry Barbour, May 2020

My Writing Space in Our Newly Renovated Kitchen

Aurora, Colorado, USA

October 22, 2025

It's going to be fun to see how others have answered this month's question.

Have a healthy, happy, and creative November!

Take care!

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue

Standing Into Danger https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com

My next post will be Friday, November 14th 🤞

Just so you know, I monitor my comments before publishing them. This means your comment won't appear immediately. I will not publish mean spirited or commercial comments.

Friday, October 24, 2025

Open Your Eyes ...

"Open your eyes, and see what you can with them before they close forever.”

This quote from the wonderful novel All the Light We Cannot See

by Anthony Doerr is one of my favorites.

I remind myself all the time to open my eyes and see.

During the past few days we have had beautiful fall weather,

and I have been walking along Piney Creek taking in all the sights.

I'm delighted to be home and to have the time to wander,

to say "Hi!" to my favorite trees and to search for animals.

Juvenile Cottonwoods Surround Their Likely Father

(the big dark trunk in the background)

Along Piney Creek, Aurora, Colorado, USA

October 21, 2025

Here are some things I've opened my eyes to see:

Alert Mule Deer ~ Don't you love those ears?

(near the entrance to the park)

Aurora, Colorado, USA

October 21, 2025

Cottonwood Tree

(near the entrance to the park)

October 21, 2025

Milkweed Seeds

I've been watching the milkweed slowly spread along Piney Creek for years.

Along Piney Creek, Aurora, Colorado, USA

October 21, 2025

My "Upper" Pond

There are many, many ponds along the length of Piney Creek,

but there are three along the east side of Heritage Eagle Bend where I live.

Along Piney Creek, Aurora, Colorado, USA

October 21, 2025

Common Mullein Stalks Are Everywhere This Fall

October 21, 2025

Old Man Cottonwood

October 21, 2025

Old Man Cottonwood is my favorite tree in "my" section of the park.

I've been photographing him for many years.

I like to visit him to see what's new, touch his branches, and talk to him.

I feel vindicated in my actions after just finishing an amazing book,

The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger, last week.

Some of the Lovely and Rooty Textures at the Base of Old Man Cottonwood

October 21, 2025

Leaves Caught in a Crotch in Old Man Cottonwood

October 21, 2025

Old Man Cottonwood

Here you can see how he's toppled over exposing his base in the left background.

This is why I call him old ~ He's fallen and he can't get up.

October 21, 2025

I remember asking one of my high school science teachers, Jerry MacLean,

if he thought that trees could communicate.

He told me I'd be better served, if I stopped looking out the windows

and paid attention in class.

I hope Mr. MacLean has lived long enough to read The Light Eaters!

If you read it, you will never look at plants the same way again!

Till Next Time, Old Buddy!

October 21, 2025

I encounter lots of people along the trail following Piney Creek.

This guy blew by me peddling his recumbent bike

with Van Morrison blasting "Moondance" in all directions.

Simpatico!!!

I like to roam off the path searching for less obvious life

The Last Dandelions of the Year

October 21, 2025

A Damselfly

What bright blue eyes and a long body you have!

October 22, 2025

Prickly Pear Cactus Hides in Dry Areas

October 21, 2025

Asters Still Bloom in Scattered Spots

October 21, 2025

A Ruddy Darter Dragonfly

October 21, 2025

The park is very quiet, its life preparing for the coming winter.

I never tire of seeing bullrushes, leaves against the sky, duckweed blanketing a pond

or a path with with leaves to shuffle through.

Fluffy Bullrushes aka Cattails

October 22, 2025

Almost Gone

October 22, 2025

Leaves Resting on a Duckweed Blanket

October 22, 2025

It's Impossible to Resist Shuffling Through Leaves

October 23, 2025

And if you're lucky like I was today (Thursday),

you might chance upon some wildlife you've been searching for.

I was pulling a U-e on the way home, and there were the deer beside a house:

Mama, her two almost grown fawns and a fourth unfamiliar deer.

The moment I hit my brakes and rolled down my window,

Mama and her offspring were moving away while the fourth deer looked on.

Serendipity!

October 23, 2025

Mama and Her Fawns

October 23, 2025

Mama and Her Fawns by Our Driveway

July 21, 2025

May you see wonderful things in your corner of the world!

Have a great weekend!

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue

Standing Into Danger https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com

My next post will be

Friday, October 31, 2025 🤞

On a completely different topic ~ The world recently lost a member of the Moody Blues.

John Lodge, the legendary bassist, singer, and songwriter for The Moody Blues died on October 10th.

I've loved the Moody Blues and their music since I was a young teenager,

and I was fortunate to see them perform at Fiddler's Green in Greenwood Village in the late 1980s.

Sadly only Justin Hayward remains.

Here is one of my favorite song of theirs "Isn't Life Strange" written by John Lodge.

The Moody Blues ~ "Isn't Life Strange"

Filmed at Red Rocks, Colorado in 1992

Isn't life strange?

A turn of the page

Can read like before

Can we ask for more?

Each day passes by

How hard man will try?

The sea will not wait

You know it makes me want to cry, cry, cry

Wished I could be in your heart

To be one with your love

Wished I could be in your eyes

Looking back, there you were and here we are

Isn't love strange?

A word we arrange

With no thought or care

Maker of despair

Each breath that we breathe

With love we must weave

To make us as one

You know it makes me want to cry, cry, cry

Wished I could be in your heart

To be one with your love

Wished I could be in your eyes

Looking back, there you were and here we are

Isn't life strange?

A turn of the page

A book without light

Unless with love we write

To throw it away

To lose just a day

The quicksand of time

You know it makes me want to cry, cry, cry

Wished I could be in your heart

To be one with your love

Wished I could be in your eyes

Looking back, there you were

Wished I could be in your heart

To be one with your love

Wished I could be in your eyes

Looking back, there you were

Wished I could be in your heart

To be one with your love

Wished I could be in your eyes

Looking back, there you were

Wished I could be in your heart

To be one with your love

Wished I could be in your eyes

Looking back, there you were

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: John Charles Lodge

Oct	NOV	Dec
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2024	2025	2026

Pages

Friday, November 14, 2025

Landscape Stories

Wednesday, November 5, 2025

IWSG: Wednesday, November 5, 2025 ~ Dreams Deferred

Friday, October 24, 2025

Open Your Eyes ...