#also saw a woodpecker land on the path in front of me and i followed it through the trees so that was cool

[c-kiddo]

creatures that were walking on me when i sat on a rock to eat my lunch . there was also a grey spider that walked on my trousers but i didnt take a picture . 2 or 3 tiny grasshoppers though

[a-detraque-barista]

Our Haunted House

Title: Our Haunted House

Rating: M

Word Count: 5.4k

Genre: yandere, horror, smut

Warnings: cursing, yandere behaviors, mention of blood, tentacle fucking, buckets of cum, biting, marking, possessiveness, unprotected sex

Summary: On your first trip back to the Halloween Fest you ran into a quiet but attractive man. Once you get separated from your friends he can’t keep himself from touching you.

A/N: HAPPY SPOOKS DAY EVERYONE!!!! A perfect rainy day (not for trick or treaters) for Halloween and to stay home and have a  Halloween Movie Marathon while eating candy and other junk food. Anyway, this is my very first smut and I hope you all like it. I also entered this in @bang-tan-bitches​ writing challenge, Monster Mash. So go check out all the other amazing stories posted in the challenge and show them some love and now on with tentacley Jimin  💜 💜 💜

    The music box played alone on the stage. It reminded you of carnival music but there was a dark undertone to it. You were only twelve and your father decided to bring you to the annual Halloween Fest. You never got scared when someone jumped out in front of you. For some reason, you have never felt fear. Nothing ever frightened you like other people. 

Your mother had voiced her concerns on more than one occasion. Calling you a freak, a monster, even going as far as a demon. She doesn’t speak to you anymore. Ignoring your existence and spending her time drinking wine and watching trash television. 

The stage you sat a few rows away from had gone completely dark before a clown was in the spotlight. His makeup was done terribly. His lips were painted black which was peeling and the white paint on his face was cracking. As he smiled widely you could clearly see black smudges on his yellow teeth.

“Hello ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls!! I am your host for this evening! And tonight I welcome you to The Clowning. I did not come up with the name by the way,” he spat as he spoke with a fake speech impediment. “And now I present to you, Stabby the Prankster.”

Your father’s eyebrow raised, just as many other parents at the name. Then a clown wearing all red and black popped out from behind the curtain. A laugh similar to Woody the Woodpecker reached your ears. And just as his name entailed, he had knives in both hands. His makeup was just as terrible as the first. Instead, his eyes had red circles and his cheeks had red spots on top of the cracking white paint. 

He jumped down from the stage and in front of the first row viewers. His bulging eyes looked from left to right before lunging straight ahead and swiftly slit the young boy’s throat.

Screaming followed as people began to rush towards the exit. Your father picked you up and began to run with you tightly in his arms. Pushing his way through, he got to just outside the door before stopping dead in his tracks. Everyone around the two of you gasped as they saw the dagger sticking out of his back. 

Your father looked down at you and smiled weakly before dropping to his knees and before he could fall forward onto you, a family friend hoisted you onto her hip. She ran with you as you looked back to your now-dead father lying on the floor. 

The clown that had thrown the knife had made his way to your dad’s body and locked gazes with you. His smile was gone and he was no longer slashing townspeople one by one. He seemed as if he was worried about something.

The clown that had claimed to be the host grabbed Stabby by the neck and threw him back into the auditorium before disappearing behind the doors himself. 

“It’s going to be okay sweetie. They can’t hurt you. There’s nothing you have to worry about,” the woman carrying you said softly as you began to cry. Your father was the only one that cared about you. And you were old enough to know that.

It’s been around a decade since then. You moved out of your mother’s house into your own. You finally had your own space. Your mother didn’t talk to you much after what happened. Only a few words every couple of weeks.

As you grew older, nobody realized your dad was one of the victims. Which led you to make friends. Your best friends were Jennie and Mark, they even wanted to be your roommates. You may not live alone but you still consider this your own space, compared to your mom’s house. 

You laid in your bed as you played on your phone. It was already four in the morning, but you couldn’t sleep. Nothing worked. Listening to classical music, drinking some of Jennie’s chamomile tea, tossing and turning. Now you stared at your white ceiling thinking of other ways to fall asleep. 

Halloween is coming up and you had to think of ways to decorate the house. No wonder why you can’t sleep, your mind always wanders off. Still, you think about all the decorations you have in storage in the attic and think of new ones you could buy. 

As you zone out you see something in the corner of your eye. Quickly looking to the side, you see nothing but your closed closet door and look back up at the ceiling to see swirling patterns begin to slither across. They were navy blue mixed with graphite grey. They were like vines twisting and curling around each other. Your eyebrows furrowed as the vine-like tendrils became bigger like they were getting closer. You feel the smooth tip of the reaching blue vine graze your nose. You attempt to sink further into the bed but as you run out of space the tendril still follows and moves to the side to comfortingly caress the side of your face. It was gentle and you could feel your eyelids becoming heavier. 

Trying to fight it, you struggle to keep your eyes open. Even attempting to hit it away with your hand but another tendril grabbed your wrist, with the utmost care. It laid your hand back down softly as if it didn’t want to cause you any pain, even a little. 

Your eyes were closed by the time the most soothing voice you’ve ever heard say, “You have all the power over me.”

Mark jumping onto your bed while Jennie made an alarm go off on her phone was what woke you up. Mark began to shake you violently as he laughed, “It’s one in the afternoon, lazy ass. Get up.”

You weren’t able to say anything until he finished shaking you. Even then you didn’t say anything and just groaned. Mark and Jennie both started to jump on the bed and stopped abruptly to hear what you had to say.

“Fuck you,” you swiped your leg into theirs to make them fall. Jennie landed on her back on the bed and Mark landed on the floor. 

“So mean,” Mark grumbled from the floor. You sat up and leaned on your elbow to give him a blank look when he popped his head up. 

“So annoying.”

Mark laid back down on the floor to sulk while Jennie turned to you, “Wanna go to the Halloween Fest with us? I know you never go but it’ll be fun.” 

You got up and walked to your bathroom connected to your room, closing the door behind you. You never told them about your father being one of the victims during what they called, Hallow’s Eve Massacre. You had always thought it was a dull name. Created by none other than the group of moms that have nothing better to do than to drink overcomplicated coffee that was too expensive for their small sizes and get into other people’s business like it’s their own.

Standing at the sink you thought about the pros and cons of going. Pros. Delicious seasonal foods, haunted houses, everything scary you love, and getting out of the house with your two best friends.

Cons. Paranoia, especially of clowns and stages, people you don’t like to even be within a ten-mile radius, and going outside.

You supposed the pros outweigh the cons. Who knows, it could be fun.

You regret your decision the moment you walked through the admission stands. Looking around you saw many clowns. Or were they your former classmates? It was hard to tell. None of these-

“Ow!” Landing on your ass you ended up dropping your coffee.

“I’m so sorry! Are you alright?” The man who bumped into you kneeled down to make sure you were okay. You felt like you've seen his face before but couldn't really pinpoint where you've seen him.

"Yeah-yeah. I'm fine," you felt him begin to pull you up by your arms to stand up directly in front of him. “Are you okay? I mean I ran into you-”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Good,” you stood there awkwardly and watched as his hand soothingly rubbed your forearms. It felt comforting. His hands were warm and it seeped through your jacket and into your skin. 

“Jennie, I think we’re interrupting something,” Mark joked as he leaned into Jennie’s side like he was whispering to her but spoke in a normal, almost loud voice.

Your face gained a red hue as you stepped away from the man who tried to look into your very soul, “Sorry again. I’ll try to pay more attention.” You stared at the ground and began to quickly walk away from the man.

“Please don’t. I’d love to run into you again sometime,” he called out before turning the other way and continued his path to wherever he was going. You kept walking with Jennie and Mark until you arrived at the part of the fairgrounds where they had all the rides. 

First, you rode the Twirling Tangerines, inside the large oranges there was a wheel you could all turn. Then, you rode the Spider, where you sat in a cart-like box that spun as the arms lifted you up and down.

You were on your way to the haunted house when you turned to Mark, “I think I just saw-” Noticing he’s not with you, you look around the crowd to try and spot him. “Jennie, where’d Mark go?”

She turned to you and looked around as well, “How the hell could we lose him?” She took out her phone from her pocket and clicked on his contact to call him. He didn’t answer.

“We’ll have to split up and look for him,” you shrugged as you headed toward back the way you came and Jennie veering left from the way you were going.

It took almost half an hour before you get a call from Jennie, telling you she found him. She failed to mention the man that Mark had crossed paths with on his adventure. 

You met them at one of the tents where they had a rigged game for people to play as stuffed animals hung from the top. You may or may not have stopped at the apple cider stand on your way to the game tent.

“Woooooow. You didn’t get us any?” Mark was obviously hurt but you didn’t really care. “You shouldn’t have wandered off like you did cause then we’d both have apple cider right now,” you took a sip of your hot drink while looking at him.

Your eyes shift to the man who you had bumped into earlier. You began to cough up the warm beverage that was trying to intrude into your lungs from your sharp intake of breath. Coughing into your sleeve, you tried to breathe again before asking, “What are you doing here?”

“Mark ran into me while I was heading toward the Baker’s Street and he was looking somewhere else,” his smile was so big it made his eyes turned into crescent moons. It almost made you want to smile. He walked closer to you before reaching out his hand to you, “My name’s Jimin. What’s yours?”

You stood there wide-eyed and shocked before snapping out of it and taking his hand. Maybe a bit too eagerly, “Y/n.” You took your hand back and turned to Mark and Jennie, “Ready for the haunted house?”

Mark groaned and Jennie gave an unconvincing “yeah” as she kind of curled into herself. You lead the way and never turned to look if Jimin had ended up following you or went ventured off somewhere else. 

You didn’t really know what to do with guys. Keeping to yourself you never really talked to people. Especially guys so it was kind of new and weird for you to speak with such an attractive guy that wasn’t a close friend like Mark. 

Walking up to the house you showed the wristband you got at the admissions booth to allow you to go in. 

"I'm sorry sir. If you don't have a wristband then I can't let you in," the woman at the entrance practically spat the person she was talking to.

You turned around to see her speaking to Jimin and felt kind of annoyed by how she spoke to him. She didn’t really have any reason to be so rude, that you knew of. “He did have one, I saw it on his wrist a few minutes ago,” you don't know why you were vouching for this guy. You just felt like it, you guessed.

The lady reluctantly nodded him through with a sneer. He smiled politely towards her before joining your group into the dark foyer.

As a dressed up ghoul jumped out in front of you and Jimin, you did nothing but stare blankly at the man while Mark yelped and Jennie gasped. How Jimin ended up next to you, you didn't know. 

Jimin noticed how the jump scare didn't frighten you. He found it intriguing, in fact. You didn’t even bat an eyelid. 

“Where’s Mark?” Jimin’s head snapped to you as you looked around for your not-so-bright friend once again. Jimin began to look around with you.

“You must be fucking kidding me,” Jennie sighed before saying, “I’ll go look for him so he doesn’t make any weird friends in here.”

Leaving you and Jimin alone, you kept walking through the hallways and up the staircase. Many people attempted to scare you but none of them succeeded. And Jimin tried not to laugh at your reaction to their attempts. It’s not that he was making fun of you. He was just amused how much effort the actors put into being frightening and all they get is your eyebrow raised at most. 

You felt Jimin take your hand gently and slowly tighten his grip into a comfortable hold, “I’m scared.” 

Immediately, you could tell he wasn’t scared at all. He just wanted a reason to hold your hand like he was smooth. But you didn’t really have the heart to take your hand away. And you didn’t really want to. You felt him come closer to you bit by bit until your shoulders were rubbing against each other.

“You wouldn’t mind if I held you would you?” Jimin broke the eerie silence that sat between you two.

“Why do you want to?” you found the question odd but weren’t completely opposed to it. You weren’t a hoe but he just made you feel comfortable. 

“Cause I want to get closer to you.”

“But you’re already close to me,” you smiled. “I suppose.”

He reciprocated your smile and let go of your hand to wrap around your shoulders. He tugged you closer so you were tucked into his side. The warmth from his body kept you from shivering because of the freezing temperatures inside the building. 

Seeing a door crack open not far down the hallway, you expected someone to jump out of the room. Getting close enough to look into the bedroom, no one jumped out. Jimin noticed your interest in the room and peeked inside with you. The only thing in the room was a wardrobe, a desk, a king-sized bed, and a mirror hanging in front of the desk. All were caked with dust. 

“Must be an extra room they decided not to use,” you concluded before you took a glance at Jimin, only to meet his eyes. You quickly looked away and awkwardly scanned the room.

All you heard were his footsteps before feeling his grip your arm to turn you towards him, “Keep your eyes on me.” 

Your cheeks felt like the sun had been shining on them for hours. And as he demanded, you kept your eyes on him. The thumb on the hand that rested on the side of your face came up to slightly pull down your bottom lip.

“You wouldn’t mind, right?” he said quietly then bit his lip while looking at yours.

Shaking your head gently, Jimin kissed you without a second thought. It was rough and hungry. He didn’t hold back for a second. Licking your lips, practically begging for access. You parted your lips slightly and that’s all he needed to slip his tongue into your mouth. No inch was left untouched. He started to walk forward making you walk back until the back of your knees hit the bed. 

After falling back on the bed, Jimin practically ripped off his thick black hoodie, showing the loose white shirt beneath. It was thin and the neckline hung well below his collarbones. The hoodie landed somewhere by the door as he got down on the floor on his knees. He gently took hold of the waistband on your pants before pulling them down slowly. As they pooled around your ankles, he came back up to start peppering kisses along your inner thighs. 

“I’m sorry baby girl, I would take my time with you but I can’t wait anymore,” his voice was thick with arousal as he tore off your shoes, socks, and pants. “I need to have you.”

Jimin ripped your panties from your waist and fell to the floor in shreds, “I’ll get you new ones.” 

Trailing more kisses down your thighs he got closer and closer to your core. His fingers began to skim over your folds and dip between them to land right on your clit. Rubbing small circles around it, his soft lips were at the apex of your thigh. 

He was so gentle with you, you weren’t sure how to feel. Adored, impatient, excited. Personally, you were never the vanilla type.

    Jimin was so close to your core, so close. But he pulled away at the last second. You whined, at which Jimin laughed at, as he pulled his shirt off from over his head. Tossing his shirt away he climbed back up your body.

    “There’s something I need to show you,” Jimin’s eyes were dark with excitement as he hovered over you.

    Your puzzled look was all he needed to continue to show what he meant. He was groaning as his head hung and his expression made it seem like he was in pain. You didn’t understand what was happening until you saw the tendrils coming out from his back. They were cobalt blue. Two were thinner than the other two. They grew and grew towards the ceiling but stopped just short of it. Once they were straight, as if they were stretching, they curled back down towards you and Jimin. They floated in the air and you stared at them. You weren’t appalled. No, you were...curious. You would’ve never thought he was anything other than human. 

    It’s not like you believed in aliens and werewolves it’s just you the type of person that thought, maybe they do exist, maybe they don’t. It looks like they do.

    “Are you gonna fuck me with those or not?” you said half-joking.

    “You’re not disgusted? Horrified?” Jimin could not believe what he was hearing. You wanted him to fuck you with his tentacles. You wanted him.

    “No, why would I be? I’m surprised and I have some questions but those can wait till later. Don’t you think?” you answered honestly and looked Jimin in the eyes while you said it. And after you said it, the tendrils behind Jimin visibly relaxed. 

    Jimin’s eyes lit up for only a second before he attacks your neck with his pillowy lips. One of the smaller tentacles reaches down between your legs causing you to get surprised and you try to close them. Jimin sucks on your neck harder as he held your legs open with his right hand, “It’s okay, jagi. I’ll make you feel good.”

    As Jimin nibbles on a particularly sensitive spot, you moaned. He almost came right then and there. Your voice was already music to his ears. But your moans? Absolutely heavenly. He tried his best to keep his body from shaking from the numerous shivers. Part of him couldn’t even believe that this was happening. He was touching you, breathing in your scent, pleasuring you. It was his dreams coming true and he was intoxicated with everything you.

    The tentacle between your legs began to rub your clit faster than what Jimin did. More moans started to escape you and your head tilted back into the pillows. Jimin was still making his way all-around your neck, making sure he was marking your neck thoroughly. 

You felt the other small tendril circling your entrance. Becoming coated with your arousal. It slowly began to enter, inch by inch. It was about the same thickness as your trusty vibrator at home so you stretched to its girth with ease. Its smooth texture slipped past your walls effortlessly. 

Jimin was starting to groan the deeper the tendril went. His breath became heavy as he nuzzled his face into your neck, “Jagi~ you’re so tight around him. I can’t wait until my cock is inside your hot cunt. Can I, jagiya?”

“Yes, please. I want you to fuck me,” you said brokenly in between moans.

Jimin sat up and quickly unbuttoned his pants and took them off swiftly. The two larger tentacles reached down to you and took off your coat and shirt. You arched from the building pressure in your abdomen just in time for them to take your bra off. 

The tentacle fucking you took up a hastened pace. It was starting to go deeper and deeper with every thrust. The knot in your lower stomach grew tauter. Jimin kissed you feverishly and swallowed your moans as you got closer to the peak. The very last thrust of the tendril made you come the hardest you’ve ever came before. You felt the tendril in your stomach as it spurted. As did every other tentacle and even Jimin’s cock was spewing out cum.

Jimin’s moan was getting you excited again. It was deep and guttural. You were panting as you felt full of his cum and felt more cum on your chest and stomach. 

“I didn’t know all of them had cum,” you chuckled as you regained your breath. 

Jimin laughs with you, “Now you know how I felt the first time I jerked off.”

His statement made you laugh harder as both of you came down from your highs. The appendage slowly began to pull out of your cum-filled cunt. You whimpered from the sensitivity. Jimin’s cum flowed out of your entrance before Jimin plugged you up with the tip of his cock.

Feeling the head, you realized just how big Jimin was. Being too distracted to notice earlier. Jimin could tell your realization by your expression.

“What’s the matter, jagi? Never had anyone this big before?” Jimin knows he was being a tease. Even though he doesn’t want to even think about the others who’ve touched you. Only he can touch you like this. He’s the only one who can pleasure you.

You knew what he was doing. He was getting smug. But you didn’t really have the patience to play games with him.

“Who knows.”

Jimin’s smirk fell as yours grew. Jimin stared into your eyes as he slammed his entire length into you in one thrust.

“You know I’ve stuffed you full. I don’t think there’s even any room for one of my tentacles. I can feel how I’m stretching you,” Jimin wasn’t going to let you win this one. 

He wrapped his arms around your waist to bring you with him as he sat back on his heels. Your chest heaved from his massive girth inside you. One small tendril wrapped around your wrists and held them above your head, the other small one began to circle at your puckered hole while a larger one spread your right cheek to give it room. And lastly, the last, larger tentacle curled around one of your breasts. 

Jimin slowly pulled out his thick cock before slamming back into your hot cunt. His moans mixed with yours as his pace became faster. Soon he was slamming in and out of you at a bruising pace. The appendage at your tight hole caught some of yours and Jimin’s combined cum and lubed you up. 

At first, it only dipped in its tip. After a few thrusts, it started to go further. Still taking on a slow pace, it steadily enlarged your hole. 

Jimin’s right arm let go of your waist to support himself above you as he leaned forward. He was still pistoning in and out of you with no intention of slowing down. Hair stuck to his forehead as did yours. Moans left you uncontrollably as both of your holes were being fucked and your tit was being gripped.

You felt the pressure on your breast vanish before feeling the said tendril slither up your neck. You hear Jimin breathe out a laugh as he saw his appendage shyly touch you.

“I think he wants to know if you could suck him,” Jimin smirked, knowing that’s exactly what it wanted. 

Opening your mouth, the tendril appeared to become a light blue as it took the invitation. You felt the tentacle practically purr from the wetness and warmth from your mouth. It thrusted into you languidly. Not going very deep so it wouldn’t hurt you. 

“Look at you. Being a slut for me. All your holes are filled with parts of me.”

His thrusts were becoming sloppy. And the tendril in your mouth was going down into your throat until you were gagging with every plunge. Your ass was so stretched out you knew that there was going to be a gap now. Maybe not a large one but there will be one. And Jimin was still pounding your swollen cunt with his massive girth. 

The tendril around your wrists let go to reach down to rub your clit in quick, small circles. You’re loud, almost screaming moans were muffled by the deep throating appendage.

You could feel you were getting so close to your release. You felt the familiar knot in your stomach building. By Jimin’s groans growing louder and his sloppy pace, you tell he was close too. 

He opened his eyes to see your body being completely surrounded by him. He let his arm fall around your waist again but he laid his head between your tits and put the rest of his energy into the last few hard pumps and stilled as he felt your walls flutter around him. 

Your eyes rolled into your skull and Jimin squeezed his eyes closed tightly. Your walls milked Jimin’s cock as it pulsed and shot cum inside you. You felt all the tentacles pulse out cum into your throat, ass, and onto your clit and mound. 

Reaching up to Jimin’s hair, you carded your fingers through the strands. Both of you were trying to calm your breathing down. Jimin was still coming but the tendril down your throat pulled out so you could breathe more easily. 

Jimin began to kiss your sternum after he came down from his high. You glanced down and back up, only to glance down again to notice a visible bulge in your stomach, that's still growing. 

"How much cum do you have?!" you exclaimed as you watched it grow bit by bit. 

"Don't pretend you don't like it," Jimin's smug attitude was still there as he knew he was right by your silence.

Jimin reluctantly pulled out of you and he didn’t mind how much cum was pouring out of your cunt. He knew there were going to be many more times like this. And that’s when he’ll worry about keeping you plugged up but for now, he just wanted to fall asleep next to you.

He pulled your exhausted body back up to the pillows with using the help from his now sky blue tentacles before they slowly retracted back into the slits in his back. 

“We should probably go, Mark and Jennie might be worried about us,” trying to sit up Jimin pulled you back down.

“No need to be in a hurry, jagi. You’re too exhausted to go out looking for him-them right?” Jimin brushed the hair from your forehead so he could see your eyes more clearly.

“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s just hope none of the employees find us,” you huffed out a laugh as you snuggled further into the covers. 

Jimin wrapped his arms around you and entangled his legs with yours. He wasn’t able to even doze off until you were sound asleep. He tried not to think about what just happened so he wouldn’t become hard and wake you up. He needed the whole night to transform this place back to the original with how worn out he is.

“Goodnight jagi. Tomorrow you’ll start your new life here with me. In our own haunted house.”

You woke up to Jimin hugging you tightly beneath the warm blanket that you had dirtied just a few hours ago. Your muscles didn’t want to make any effort to move so you had to lay there until you had the energy to get up and get dressed. Stretching out your legs a bit you felt a crack somewhere in your spine. You’re puzzled about how that would affect your back but you don’t worry about it. Nuzzling back into Jimin’s neck, you finally remembered Jennie and Mark being in the house with you. They must have gone home without you given how long it’s been.

They were adults, no reason to really worry about them. You tucked the blanket over your shoulder to hide from the cold draft. Jimin felt you moving around so he got impossibly closer to you and pulled the blanket up to his neck so it covered most of your head.

You groaned and tilted your head up causing your chin to rest on his chest making your lips pout. He cracked an eye open to see what you were doing. Seeing your sleepy, pouty face made him let out a breathy chuckle.

Jimin leaned down to kiss your forehead, “Did you sleep well?” He continued his kisses all over your face, moving down to reach your nose.

“Mm-hm,” your eyes were still closed when you thought about what it was. “Do you know what time it is?”

“No,” he kept smothering your face in kisses.

“I have to go home soon.”

“No.”

“No? I kinda do. I need clean clothes, I need a shower, and I need to check up on Jennie and Mark,” you began to untangle yourself from Jimin’s arms and legs only to have him roll you over to lay on you. “Jimin~ I have to get up,” laughing you tried to roll back over Jimin had you completely pinned. 

“You’re not going anywhere,” he said quietly into your ear before he kissed right below your lobe. “My marks are fading already, stay still.”

You huffed as he darkened the already almost purple hickeys on your neck, “After this, you have to get off me so I can go home.” 

“But you can’t go home. You live here now, with me,” he pushed himself up with his forearms on the mattress. His eyes were stone. But they were warm as they bore into yours. “You’re not leaving me.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” you whispered as you maintained eye contact. “How can either of us live here when it’s just a stage for townspeople to dress up and scare people?”

“It seems, you haven’t noticed the change in the room,” Jimin smirked as his eyes left yours to scan the room, causing you to follow his actions. 

The room was no longer a dirty beige with dust-covered furniture. It’s the same exact room except, it was gray. Everything in the room was gray beside you two. The window that had light from the fair shining through was completely blacked out. And the mirror above the desk was completely shattered. Little to no pieces remained in the frame. 

“Besides, your friends tried to find us but they kind of got trapped,” He laid back down next to you and rested his head on his hand. “So there’s no need to worry about them, sweetheart.”

You pushed his arm off and swung your legs onto the floor but you felt the familiar wetness from one of Jimin’s tentacles wrap around your abdomen. It made you sit back down and pulled you back to Jimin.

“It’s true that you have all the power over me. However, that doesn’t mean I’ll let you go.”

Your heart undoubtedly fluttered.

[dansnaturepictures]

18/03/2021-Peacock, parakeet and more on another pinch of spring at Lakeside and home: 10 different pictures in this photoset to those I tweeted tonight 

I took the first picture in this photoset of three Starlings out the back as I worked today, and second of flowers on the green out the front with some speedwell present I tweeted a picture of a zoom in on one of those beautiful flowers too. I then took the third and fourth picture in this photoset at Lakeside when I got there of more great blossom lately. 

I had a spring competition going on a little at Lakeside on the walks currently, which star of the last two springs for me here would I see first out of Peacock butterfly or Snake’s head fritillary flower. The Peacock had looked the most likely, and the moment happened funnily enough when I walked into the southern fenced off nature reserve area from the southern gate over to the area underneath trees where these flowers usually grow in a big clump just to see if they were there. They weren’t, but I saw a butterfly fly towards me. At first wondering about the Red Admiral a species I had already seen this year so far at Magdalen Hill one Sunday in February, but then I remembered being in the now quite widespread blossom laden country park the Peacock based on previous years was also very likely and I just about made it out from seeing it fly that it was a Peacock. I then saw it land and there was no doubt as I saw its shining turquoise and beige circles standing out, I did take a picture of this butterfly which I tweeted tonight on Dans_Pictures. It looked so brilliantly bright for spring it was in immaculate condition which is so lovely to see. 

So the Peacock won the little competition as I noticed one whilst seeing if the fritillary flowers were there. This was my second butterfly species of the year following the Red Admiral. On that very sunny walk I remarked at how I rarely see both Red Admiral and Peacock early on in a butterfly year. So after Red Admiral was in the early order for the first time since 2018 I thought a wait would be on for the Peacock this year, but not so as like 2016 when I saw them both on the same day for the first time that year at Magdalen Hill I had seen both early on. The picture today meant I’ve currently photographed 100% of the identified butterflies I’ve seen this year, both with my big lens rather than macro as its traditionally harder to get macro pictures until later on as you need butterflies to land for a while to get close to so its harder to get on the colder or relatively colder earlier days and earlier on the butterflies are naturally more flighty as today’s was. But with my big lens it meant I didn’t have to get very close to it but could zoom in from a distance. I have used this lens for more butterfly pictures where needed over the years so it could be really changing when my butterfly pictures start a little. 

I took the fifth and sixth pictures in this photoset of the ground in this area and a daffodil before moving on towards the lakes with the trees adorned by the green buds and blossom of the landscape. Going towards here I first of all thought I had heard a Ring-necked Parakeet calling its eccentric high-pitched call. But I knew a Moorhen or Coot could quite easily imitate the call in a way. Still quite atmospheric to hear it. I then inspected Concorde Lake getting a brilliant closeup view of a pair of Great Crested Grebes. 

And then something amazing happened. I heard the high pitched call again and then I looked north and saw the distinctive body of a Ring-necked Parakeet fly over. I then watched it fly south east into tall trees towards the steam railway station. This was a monumental moment! I was so thrilled to see this special bird fly and get a binocular view. They really are such a beautiful and special species. A species that for so long were a London park bird but that’s four times I have seen the birds that seem to be regular in the Southampton area now which is fascinating. That’s two years running I’ve ticked them locally now. This bird was not just a year tick, my 112th bird of the year, but also a patch tick as my previous sightings of them in this area last year were from my room or at Grantham Green. It was the first species I’ve had since I started my patch and from garden/home lists that was also a year tick so this added another element to it. I was certainly enthused in December when I set up my patch and from home lists by the amount of more notable birds I had seen whilst working from home at Lakeside but I didn’t really think I’d add to it necessarily so to have now had two patch ticks this year Ring-necked Parakeet and Shoveler and one from home a Cormorant shows what amazing birdwatching times I have had. 

I took the seventh picture in this photoset as I walked towards the steam railway station to try and see or get a photo of the parakeet but I didn’t see it again. I did however see a sea of yellow created by some very lush and large daffodils on a verge in the car park area which I tweeted two pictures of tonight on Dans_Pictures so this was some sight. I then went on to take eighth and ninth pictures in this photoset of daisies on the ground and a view over the westernmost lake. Today at lunch time I also enjoyed seeing Lesser Black-backed Gull, noticing most Black-headed Gulls now have the brown heads of summer plumage showing how we are really going into spring now and I saw a Moorhen fly across the lake I am not sure I have ever seen this bird fly before! A bird I am having a great year for seeing a lot I’ve found especially here. I managed the tenth and final picture in this photoset of a view on the way home on the tarmac path north of Lakeside. This was a breathtaking, memorable and really very rewarding walk during working today the supreme sightings made me smile. I hope you’ve all had a good day. 

Wildlife Sightings Summary: My first Peacock butterfly and Ring-necked Parakeet of the year, two of my favourite birds the Green Woodpecker and Great Crested Grebe, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Starling, Black-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Mallard, Moorhen, Coot, Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Collared Dove two now seeming to arrive on the roof visible opposite as sun casts an afternoon shadow which they did on the opening parts of the t started working from home a year ago next week, Woodpigeon, Magpie, Carrion Crow, 

[benji-writes]

Cherry Blossom

Pairing: Bucky x f!Reader

Word Count: 4041

Summary: You and Bucky finally find the love you deserve. Underneath the cherry blossoms, everything is beautiful. -- What the two of them find is a fantastical real life dream of mine. I hope you think it’s as beautiful as I do. 

Warnings: Mentions of death, but nothing graphically depicted. Should be edited more, but I literally could not read it again. 

He sat on the steps of the back porch. She sat beside him. He hated that this place was so quiet now. It wasn’t supposed to be. It never was before. He looked over at the woman sat beside him and he could see it. The two of them together, happy, in this same place. He prayed she could see it too. 

“When my grandparents first bought this place, there was hardly anything here. The house they’d bought was this tiny little dump, with rotted wood and broken windows. Mom has pictures. It’s amazing how different it looks now. Nana told me they liked the land, and that’s why they bought it. That the trees and the grass were perfect. That the air smelled just right.”

She looked over at the man she loved. She’d never seen him like this. It was almost solemn. A solemn yearning for something he didn’t yet have. She leaned her head on his shoulder and said, “Will you tell me about them? Will you tell me about this place?”

He looked down at her, this woman he loved enough to bring here, to this sacred place. He was unafraid with her beside him, “I’ll tell you everything. It’s a long story though.”

She grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight, “Don’t worry. We have time.”

He kissed her temple and her eyes fell closed. She looked out at the garden and said, “How did they first meet?” 

“Well. He fell flat on his face in front of her.”

—

You weren’t sure if he’d noticed you, but you’d long since noticed him. You’d sit everyday at the picnic table by the cherry blossom trees. You could see the pond from where you sat, with it’s geese and frogs and lily pads. In the distance, where the birch trees grew, you could hear the sound of woodpeckers. It was the world’s most perfect spot. 

You were a teacher, and so most days, after you changed out of your work clothes and went home to get a snack, you’d come sit in the park. You’d grade your papers there, watch the geese float in the water. The local geese were familiar with you now. They’d sit by you sometimes during the week, though mostly they kept their distance. On Sundays though, they’d flock to the shoreline when they saw you coming. You’d bring a big bag of rice and corn, and spread it across the ground. Sometimes they’d eat right out of your hand, especially Mister and Lady Goose. You’d fed them as goslings, and years later, they’d sit by your feet as you fed their goslings. You loved them, and you loved that park. 

There we other picnic tables scattered throughout the park and around the pond, benches and lights lined the pathways. There were always people about, and that was how you first saw him. He ran through the park everyday. Morning and afternoon. You’d see him Sunday mornings while you fed the geese, and weekday afternoons while you graded. You’d watch him, hair tied back, long sleeved shirt. He was always sweating. His shirts were long, but he didn’t wear gloves. You paid enough attention to him to realize he had a prosthetic arm. He wasn’t trying to hide it completely, but he didn’t want to call attention to it either. It made you wish the world was kinder. Maybe then he’d be less afraid to show himself. 

He’d noticed you of course. How could he not? You were there everyday, and were half the reason he kept running through that park, even though the path was old and cracking, raised in some parts, and not great if your goal was speed. Fortunately, his goal, at least by the pond, was a leisurely jog. The longer he jogged by the longer he could see you. Sometimes he’d stop there, drink some water, as if he really needed a water break, and pretend to take in the scenery before he went on his way. 

You were usually working on something. Writing on papers, though he never knew what exactly. You were so beautiful and you didn’t even know it. Alone at that picnic table, you’d laugh out loud at something that you were reading. You’d put your face in your hands when it was really bad, shake your head before you continued writing. Sometimes a gust of wind would blow through the trees, and the cherry blossoms, and petals would swirl around you like you were their very center of gravity. You’d sometimes look up from your work, and watch the petals fall into the pond. You didn’t even notice the way they fell at your feet like an offering, and decorated your hair like they’d been destined to land there. You looked like a scene in a movie.

On Sundays, you’d feed the geese. This was amazing to him, not only because you’d get so close to those horrifying birds, but because you’d pet them too, paying no mind to the absurd amount of geese droppings you had to step around. The goslings would nuzzle at your feet, while their parents ate out of your hand. You weren’t like anything he’d ever seen.

The day you and Bucky met, it was a Friday afternoon. The sun fell softly across the pond and you didn’t have any work to do. You sat there, picking the cantaloupe out of your fruit cup so you could save the best for last, and reading a book on your phone. You could hear his steps as he came around the corner, and though you were usually pretty discreet, for the first time, you accidentally made eye contact. You were looking at him, and by God he was looking at you, and neither of you could stop. But with all his attention on you, he had no awareness of where he was going. He tripped right over the raised concrete and fell smack on his face, barely catching himself in time. 

“Holy shit,” As soon as you saw him fall, you were out of your seat running over to him. He rolled over, groaning, hands holding onto his scraped up face.

“Oh my god, are you okay? You’re okay right? Oh goodness, lemme see please.” You grabbed onto his wrists and slowly pulled his hands away from his face. You could feel a little bit of resistance, but could also tell he was letting you do it. 

He was a little scraped up, but looked mostly fine. The words slipped out as he said, “God, you're even prettier up close.”

You felt your face heat up. Nobody had ever said anything to you quite as sweet as that. He groaned again, pulling his hands back up to cover his face.

“Is this as embarrassing as it feels?” His voice came through muffled underneath his hands.

You smiled so bright and said, “Maybe a little, but it’s working in your favor. If it’s any consolation, I find it pretty charming.”

He pulled his hands away, looked up at you and said, “I can work with charming.”

You rolled your eyes at that and said, “That’s the line you’re going with? Really?”

He shrugged, “Yeah, not my best work.” 

You shook your head, “No kidding.” 

You stood up, and reached you hand down to help him up. He didn’t need the assistance, but he thought it was sweet of you to offer. You wiggled your fingers and said, “Well come on then, Prince Charming, time to get up.”

Once he was standing he brushed himself off and said, “So, Princess, what do you say?”

You were confused, “What do I say about what?” 

“Sunday morning. Right about here. I’ll bring the coffee and cinnamon rolls?” He was a little nervous, but something in him just told him this was right.

You looked at him for a minute, arms folded across your chest. You’d hardly spoken, but somehow it already felt natural. Easy. Like when you run into a friend you haven’t seen for years, and fall right back into old patterns. Everything following a natural rhythm as if it had been that way all along. 

“Cream, two sugars. Bring lots of napkins”

He smiled at that, “See you then, Princess.”

You rolled your eyes, but smiled as you two said goodbye, “You’re not really gonna stick with that nickname, are you? I mean, Princess? No originality. No flair.”

He barked out a laugh, “Okay. Alright. Listen, I see you in this park everyday. I have a nickname for all the park regulars. I can always call you that instead?”

“Oh God, is it even worse than Princess?”

“Maybe,” he said. “See you later, Chess.”

Your eyebrows and nose scrunched up in confusion, “Chess? I don’t play chess.”

He blushed, looked at his feet with a shy smile and said, “Well not chess like, chess chess. Chess like Duchess. Y'know cause, when the blossoms blow in the wind, and you’re sitting over at your table, it’s kinda like that scene from the movie y'know? The Aristocats? When O’Malley shakes the blossoms off the tree and they fall all pretty around Duchess. I thought that was kinda what you looked like, so.”

Your eyes were glassy, and you clenched your jaw to keep the tears from falling. No one had ever made you feel so beautiful. In a burst of courage, you leaned up and kissed his cheek, “See you Sunday, O’Malley. I’ll be waiting.”

— 

“So that’s why there’s a Cherry Blossom Tree in the front yard?” She asked.

He looked out over the backyard and said, “Once the house was built, it was the first thing they did. There are pictures of Nana at the plant nursery, with this little tree in a pot. It was maybe five feet tall, a little bigger maybe, when they planted it. It’s been growing well over sixty years now. Closer to seventy maybe, not too sure on the math if I’m being honest.”

“Well what about the rest of this place? There’s so much here.”

“Nana used to say you could travel the Earth and never find somewhere with as much love as this place. When I was a kid I thought that of course there had to be somewhere else, but now that I’m older. Now that I’m back here, in this place, I know she’s right.”

He breathed in deep, wishing his grandmother were here to tell her the stories instead, “You see the gazebo?” He asked. “That gazebo is the reason this place happened the way it did.”

— 

It was quiet in your bedroom. In the late hours of the night, a Nuwave Air Fryer infomercial played in the background. The tv was muted, but with your head on his chest, the sound of his heartbeat was all you needed. 

Bucky’s prosthetic was wrapped around your waist, and the cool of the metal was a nice contrast to his body heat. With his other hand, his fingertips drew lines on your back. That behavior, rhythmic and comforting, like the beat of his heart. The assurance that came with the feel of his fingers tracing up and down and back up again in time.

This was all you’d ever wanted. This peace that came from laying beside someone you loved wholly and entirely. Someone who loved you back. In that bed, in that moment, a sort of quietude took root. You had grown so used to the cruelty of men that to be shown such raw love, such unashamed kindness, from this man brought to you an ease you’d never known. It was strange. It felt like it had always been this way. Like something inside of you always knew you would end up here. You knew he felt the same. 

“Hey, Chess?” He said, his voice fell over you like the comfort of a familiar blanket. 

“Yeah, Buck?” 

“It’s the same for you, right? You feel it the same?”

You patted his stomach, “Yeah, Buck. I do.”

His arm that ran up and down your back stopped for a minute. He took his hand, and turned your face up so you were looking at him, “Will you marry me?”

You smiled up at him. That sweet bedtime smile he was so fond of, “Only if you marry me back.”

The side of his mouth turned up, and he ran his hand through your hair, “Ok, I promise I will.”

You kissed his chest, and knew that this was right. Some people had grand proposals. Elaborate secrets, everything carefully timed, so someone could ask the person they love to be with them forever. And that’s beautiful – for them. It’s what’s right for their marriage, and for each other. But you didn’t want that, and neither did Buck. It felt right this way. The two of you, together as you would be always. You’d sleep like this every night for the rest of your lives, and it felt more special this way. Like there wasn’t a question at all. Like this was always how it would be. Like something inside of him always knew he would end up here. He knew you felt the same. 

He reached over with his hand to the nightstand, head turning as much as it could to see what he was doing, opened the drawer, and pulled out a little box. He opened it with one hand, and held the box close to you so you could get a good look. 

He felt his chest start to get wet, quiet tears falling down your face. You didn’t say anything, just kissed his chest again, and picked your left hand up off his stomach and held it up for him. He took the ring out of it box, and slipped it onto your finger. It fit just right.

He put the box back on his nightstand, and started running his fingers up and down your back again. You burrowed into him as close as your bodies would let you, “Let’s get a house, now. One with lots of windows.” 

You and Bucky had long since talked about what you wanted in the future. A house, somewhere quiet, but not too quiet. Kids, who would run around. Children who you could show everyday how beautiful this world could be. You’d take them to the park where you first met every Sunday, and feed the geese under the cherry blossoms. 

Bucky’s words came right in step with yours, “A big backyard, with lots of grass. When the kids come, me and Sam can build them a jungle gym.”

“With a swing set. I loved the swings when I was a kid. I still love the swings.”

Bucky nodded, “With a swing set.”

“We can have a wrap around porch. One with a porch swing, and we can sit on it together. Maybe we can grow a vegetable garden. With lots of basil and rosemary. Maybe hot peppers, and tomatoes. Behind it we can grow an apple tree. We’ll cook all the time, sometimes with the stuff we’ve grown ourselves.”

“I want a plum tree too. Some blueberry bushes. Or a strawberry patch in the front yard. And I want a big kitchen. Something nice, with all kinds of pots and pans, and a walk-in pantry. One day we’ll teach the kids to make cookies there.” Bucky said smiling.

“With granite countertops. The kind that you have to Windex to keep clean.”

It went quiet for a moment, before you spoke again, only a little hesitant this time, “What if we... What if we got married there? We could... We could build a gazebo in the backyard. Do it up with lights and flowers. Invite just the people we love. We’d get married right there. Maybe have our first dance inside there too, or something. That way there’d be nowhere more special than our home. We could sit on the steps of the back porch, and for the rest of our lives we’d look out at that gazebo and remember. We could dance there all the time and know that no place in the world had known more love. And one day, growing up with the pictures on the walls, having seen the old videos, one of our kids will want to get married there too. If we’re real lucky.”

You looked up at Bucky, after realizing you’d gone off on quite a fantastical tangent. He was already looking at you, silent tears rolling down his face. 

“Our wedding night could be the first night we spend in our new home. I’d carry you into the house. We could... we could plant a cherry blossom tree in the front yard.”

You couldn’t hold back your smile, and neither could he. He laughed through tears, too full of joy to keep it in. 

“I love you, James.”

“I love you, Y/N.”

— 

“Your grandparents really got married here?”

“Yeah. I can show you the pictures when we go back inside. I told you this place was a dump when they bought it. They had a lot of help fixing it up, but when they did, this was where they got married. Uncle Steve got married here too. So did Aunt Becca. Mom and Dad were never married, but that’s probably for the best, since they separated anyways. I wonder if mom knew it might happen. Didn’t want to taint this place.”

Your grandson took a moment to breathe before he kept talking, “Even with how mom and dad turned out though, I never doubted that love was real. So many of my friends who grew up with divorced parents came out of it so scarred. With this fear of love and marriage, like it was always destined to go wrong. But Nana and Grampy always loved each other. When we were little, we’d sleep over, and run around in the yard while they sat together on the porch. I can still hear their laughter echoing throughout the house. I rarely ever saw them argue. And mom says, when they got angry at each other when she was a kid, they’d walk away, and stay apart for the rest of the day. They’d dance in the gazebo that night, and mom says it was like the anger had never been there at all. Like, when they came back together in that place, they agreed to let it wash away with every step.”

“They must’ve been incredible.” She said in awe.

“They were. Not without their faults, of course, but they were really something,” he took a deep breath. “You know, Uncle Steve owns this place now. When Nana passed, Grampy couldn’t take it. They were both in their nineties, but Grampy had more years in him still. But without Nana it was like he didn’t wanna do it anymore. He wanted to be with her again so bad. But when I close my eyes, I can still feel them here. See them dancing, hear their laughter. I’d sit between them on the porch swing sometimes, and listen to them tell stories. It’s like, those stories are still in the walls. Just waiting for new ones to be created.”

He looked over at the woman he loved, and stood up with his hand held out. Come with me.”

“Where are we going?” She asked.

“My favorite spot here,” he said.

—

Your kids were growing so fast. Steve was nearly 15 now and it all felt so strange and wonderful to see them grow. Becca had just turned 13, and your youngest, Winnie, turned ten not long after. It hurt in the best way possible, and there was nothing that could have prepared you for that feeling. 

You and Bucky sat on the porch swing, looking out at your Cherry Blossom. It was so big now. It would keep growing of course, but compared to the little thing it was when you first got it, you could hardly believe what it had become. Where had the time gone?

You curled into Bucky and sat quietly. Music played over your speakers, softly in the background, and he hummed along. 

“Hey, Buck. I got a stupid idea. You on board?” You looked up at him, mischief on your mind.

“Always, Chess.”

“Okay, stay here, I’ll be right back.”

You went through the front door, giggling. Steve was sitting on the couch as you passed through the living room, and for some reason, it made you feel like you’d been caught. 

“Mom, what are you doing?”

You slowed your pace and said, “Nothing. Mind your business, nosey butt.”

You made it into the kitchen, and began giggling again. You went to where your purse sat on the counter, and rummaged around till you found your pocket knife. 

Walking back outside, trying to appear very normal as you passed a very suspicious Steve in the living room, you sat back down on the swing. You flicked open the knife and looked at Bucky with the smile that always meant trouble, “Ready?”

You wiggled your eyebrows at him, and he laughed at you, “What the hell do you plan on doing with that?”

You closed the knife for the time being, grabbed his hand, and said, “Just follow me, Buck.”

He shook his head as you dragged him up and over to the Cherry Blossom tree, where you opened your knife again. 

He leaned against the side of the tree watching you as you began to carve a heart into the bark, “Are you seriously carving out initials into this tree like we’re a pair of pre-teens.”

You smiled at him, “Obviously.”

He shook his head, but looked at you like you were the moon, “You are so impossibly dumb.”

You laughed at that, “Yeah, I know. Married you didn’t I?”

He rolled his eyes as if annoyed, but you knew better, “Ha ha, you’re so funny.” 

You had finished the heart and began carving your initials. When you finished, you handed Bucky the knife, and he carved his own. When he finished he closed the knife, and kissed you softly.

Inside, Steve, knowing something was up had called his sisters. All three kids sat watching from the front window. Once you kissed, they all pulled away rolling their eyes. Winnie said, “Do they always have to do that?”

Steve shrugged, “Better that than the opposite, I guess.”

Becca nodded, “Still gross though.”

“Oh, yeah definitely,” Steve said. “Definitely gross.”

Outside, you and your husband looked at each other. In that moment, it was all you needed. 

—

“See, look,” Your grandson said standing underneath the blossom branches. “I used to come out here as a kid, and trace my fingers along their initials. Nana told me she thought it was like something out of an old movie. I just thought it was special.”

He watched as the woman he loved traced her fingers gently around the heart and over its letters, “It’s beautiful.”

The wind blew by, and the petals fell from the trees. He knew, this is what his grandpa felt when he saw his grandma in the park. He understood why he called her Chess right up to the day she died. Cause right here, right now, the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen looked up at the petals as they fell. She looked ethereal. Blissful. Soft and dreamy. Just like Duchess.

She was too busy looking at the petals to notice him drop to one knee. When the wind finally stopped and she went to look at the love of her life, she froze. There he was, so handsome, down on one knee. Her hand came over her mouth as he said, “I love you so much. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anything, and if you let me, I’ll love you till the day I die... Uncle Steve agreed to sell me this house. We could live here, if you want. Get married, just like my grandparents. There would be so much love here. I want to share it with you, if you’ll let me.”

She fell to her knees, kissed him fiercely, and without an ounce of hesitation said, “Yes.”

[frankfallon-blog]

When Nature Calls

#MentalHealthAwarenessWeek #Nature hash tag social media pictures and words about how nature is good for the mind, the body and the soul. Tweet tweet goes the budgie and tweet tweet goes Twitter lighting up how we need to connect with Nature. The long and dark days of lockdown, including only being allowed one bit of exercise for some of it, is hopefully coming to an end and we can see the sunlight at the end of the corridor…

When I think of nature I see, hear, taste and smell my favourite places, places I have never seen before and places I long to go. I always felt connected to Hippos and love how they live on land but can stay for up to 7 minutes under water. In the bath I often hold my head under for as long as I can and remain under the water, immersed within the water and able only to hear my heartbeat and dripping of the tap. Throughout lockdown I could feel the waves of the sea hitting me and taste the sea water, whilst hearing the sounds of the tide drawing in and pushing out against the shore. Of course I could have, and did on a number of occasions look at pictures and videos of the sea, but nothing beats nature quite like nature.

I live near a canal and in place of the seaside I often spent my lockdown walk venturing up and down the canal tow path and following the water running down toward the Thames. Along the route I spied squirrels, birds, wood mouse (sometimes the less attractive London rat) and my all time favourite – the Heron. I spent many a lockdown day wondering if I would catch a glimps of the Heron and did at many different points along the route – once taking off and in flight. On a 6am run I caught him walking up a bank to inspect a bag that had been left there. One day on the phone to a client I saw the Heron flying from the canal behind my flat over toward the golf course on the opposite side of the Uxbridge Road. Even more astonishingly I once came round a muddy path and found a Heron eating a small fish! Pre-Covid I had seen a Heron before. Once I even saw a family of Heron, two adults and two babies. Pre-Covid Heron didn’t nearly fill me with as much joy as the buzz lockdown Heron sightings gave me!

This year has really proved how necessary nature is to live a wholesome life. Whether it be gazing out of a window at green spaces or blue skies, or walking through the local park or running along the Grand Union Canal or, when Lockdown eased and I was able to once again visit the seaside, swimming in the sea, it is vital to living your best life. There is a whole heap of science, psychology and biology that will prove the reasoning but seeing the void of what we have become used to over lockdown really tops all the reading. I have seen a (socially distanced) gathering of people watching a sunset, more people than ever feeding ducks, couples standing in awe on the sight of a kestrel and have heard more laughter than ever coming from children feeding nearby horses.

You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone really does summarise how important nature is. I have been blessed to travel to some near and far places including walking up Machu Pichu, swimming with dolphins, seals and sharks in the Galapagos, seeing 4 of the big 5 in the Serengeti during the Migration, canoeing up the Lower Zambezi with pods of Hippos (I much preferred them when I was safe on land!) and laying on beaches, trekking and all sorts but the sweetest thing about nature is those moments closer to home. The everyday buzz of a bird, or peck of a woodpecker. The sunrise or set, the wind, the rain, the smell of fresh cut grass.

I struggle for motivation and often find getting outside after a long day, although the best medicine, is also the hardest thing to do. This Mental Health Awareness Week I am going to promise myself more internal dialogue for Nature. I am going to switch off from Social Media and rather than seeing what others have been doing, I am going to create more memories, more smells, more sightings of Heron’s and other such and open my eyes to what is in front of them because if the last year has taught me anything, it’s that we can’t take anything for granted. Nature is calling and I plan on answering.

[coolcancunyachts]

Studying Nature in Mexico is an Unforgettable Adventure

After spending many vacations in Cancun Yacht Rentals , Mexico, I decided to take the plunge and move there to study the beautiful nature I'd admired in my previous trips. Having lived many years in the comfort and safety of American suburbia, it was time for some adventure. After learning Spanish, I went to the Yucatan and rented a home in suburban Playa del Carmen and hired myself a maid. Then, with help from hired guides and friends, I visited a variety of remote places in the Mexican jungles. It was an unforgettable experience to see a variety of animals in their natural habitats.

The ever-growing city of Playa del Carmen is an hour south of Cancun, and easily accessed by public buses. Both cities are on the Caribbean Sea, where coral reefs abound up and down the coastline. The beauty of pure white, limestone sand, and richly colored, turquoise water of the ocean drew me down there. Being a nature artist, I was fascinated by the plants and animals of the region. Armed with my cameras, drawing paper and pens, I got to work drawing and photographing bugs, birds, plants and anything else exotic. Soon, my artwork landed me a job as main illustrator for a large nature park called XCaret.

Whenever I had a drawing to deliver to my employer, I would board the employee bus for XCaret, and then walk down a long, back jungle path next to the park to the office. These walks fascinated me, due to the path was directly next to fenced enclosures for their zoo and aviary. Flamingoes, spider monkeys and a harpy eagle were animals I could see the best from the path. One time I made the mistake of giving one of the monkeys a cookie, only to see the other monkeys chase after him to steal it, trying to beat him up! I quickly got out a couple more cookies and gave the rest to them, to avoid the original monkey from getting hurt. They all sat there munching peacefully as I snuck off, hoping nobody saw.

In Mexico, you will see iguanas in nature frequently. As I walked down the nature path on my way to work, there was rustling in the big tree near me. I looked up only to see a large, 6 foot green iguana male with bright orange fringe on his back, in the canopy of the tree. He looked down at me. I remember people telling me that iguanas are good eating, taste like chicken, and that they are called "chicken of the tree". I never found out if that was true or not, but then, I wasn't about to go eating iguanas. Nope, I'm not that adventurous in my dining choices. Black iguanas can be seen usually sitting one per rock pile. Everywhere there were rocks, were male iguanas sunning themselves. Interesting creatures. In Chankanaab Park (on the island of Cozumel) there is a huge iguana that walks around public areas, oblivious to the humans that walk past it. It will bite if petted, the park employee told me. So, I took photos of it and kept my distance.

Another lizard that was interesting and plentiful, was Basiliscus basiliscus, the basilisk. There are a few varieties of basilisk to be found in Mexico. It can run on water if it gets scared enough, and I witnessed it after scaring one unintentionally. Later, I found a smaller one and drew it for my job, they have intense eyes, looking very serious. When I was finished drawing him, he ran upright into the jungle, glad to be free of the big, scary human with whom he'd spent a few hours with.

The jungles of Mexico are fascinating, but I would never recommend walking off your path into one. First off, the foliage is very dense. Second, there are critters in there that can hurt you if provoked, namely scorpions, snakes and spiders. Look, but don't touch. I have seen all of these, and have paid people to remove them from my home. Scorpions will come after you if they are agitated. Back away quickly, wherever they cannot follow. The lighter colored ones, I was told, are more dangerous than the black ones. There are tarantulas in Mexico, and they are big but not aggressive, thank goodness. I had a red-kneed tarantula taken away from the front of my door once. My maid used to throw out other spiders she found inside, and laugh when I would be freaked out by them. "This? It's harmless!" she'd tell me. Yuck. I took her word for it.

As for snakes, there are a few that are reason enough not to go walking alone in the jungle. First, there are huge boa constrictors. My ex-husband was called by the ladies next door, to remove a 6-foot boa out of their rental flat. They said it just slithered into the open back door. Lesson learned, never leave an open door to your house if you live close to the jungle. Then, there is a crimson colored snake the locals called Coralio. I don't know its scientific name, but it was beautiful but deadly. A man who lived near me had a whole apartment full of snakes, and he showed them to me up close. Snakes are interesting but it pays to watch where you step, since my ex and I nearly stepped on one during an evening walk. There are other snakes to watch out for, but these are the kinds that we saw. All snakes will mind their own business if unprovoked, it seems, trouble seems to be when humans aren't paying attention and step on one by mistake. So, it pays to watch where you walk.

Then there were the amazing birds. A gorgeous variety of colors, shapes and sizes, birds in Mexico are exotic and fascinating. My favorites were the toco toucan, motmot, currasows, Yucatan jay, cinnamon-colored cuckoo, and pileated woodpecker and violaceous trogon (a relative of the resplendent quetzal). They had a knack for showing themselves whenever I didn't have my camera with me. I did draw and take notes of what I saw, then look them up later. There was a bird that was so colorful that locals called it, "siete colores" (seven colors). After looking it up, I identified it as a painted bunting. Another bird locals call "pecho amarillo"(yellow breast), otherwise known as the great kiskadee, used to sit outside my window and yell, "Eeee, Eeee!" at the top of his lungs. We used to call back at him, and he'd answer. Very funny bird.

In Playa del Carmen, there is an outdoor aviary, built into the jungle, in the Playacar section. I went in there and walked around, to see the different birds that usually are hidden by jungle. One bird took a fancy to me, a barred currasow who followed me everywhere. She was my feathered tour guide, and posed for photos freely. I finally got to see a chachalaca up close, a relative to a turkey, that is shy, loud (its call sounds like a rusty meat grinder), and travels in groups. Also, there were red ibis, more flamingos, egrets, and much more. The aviary is a must see if you visit Playacar.

Another interesting natural sector in the Yucatan were all the bugs. Insects of every kind, in great quantities. I could've done without all the mosquitoes, though, thank goodness for bug repellent. My favorites were the butterflies. Sometimes when driving down remote roads, we came across undulating masses of various butterfiles colored yellow, white or black. Monarch butterflies also migrate in large groups down to Mexico, I saw them once, too. The most beautiful butterfly I came across in the wild, in my opinion, was the morpho butterfly. It has large irridescent blue wings, wasn't as common as other butterflies, and preferred the privacy of non-populated areas like fields and jungles. There was another butterfly that was big, brown and with its wings closed, was the size of a large dinner plate. It was called an owl butterfly, and flew slowly. I got really close to him and he seemed unafraid. He had patterns on his wings that were like numbers. Fascinating.

Beetles. Ahh, beetles..not very graceful, and apparently not all that bright, but endearing with their less than graceful antics. There were golden scarab beetles that used to fly into my window as I was working, frequently. They usually landed on their backs with their feet flailing helplessly in the air. Eventually the situation would rely on me turning them right-side up, some would then fly off, others would somehow end up on their backs again. It was odd, but I took the opportunity to draw these metallically colored insects, who looked as if they were gilded in brushed gold.

Grasshoppers and katydids are in large quantity in the jungles of the Yucatan. There are so many varieties of grasshoppers, I lost count. As for katydids. their bodies are gigantic, the size of a sparrow. I caught one, to draw him, then when I let him go off my balcony, he flew away in a straight path. His big, green body was visible for a very long time as he flapped off into the sunset, it was surreal.

Sea creatures and fish are plentiful in the Caribbean Sea. Though the reefs are endangered and show signs of damage, they are still beautiful. Every day, I'd snorkel in the low-traffic area near my home. It was serene to get to the beach early in the morning, pick up a few shells that washed up on shore, then make my spot on the beach. I'd snorkel until my body got cold, every day. There weren't many large predators in the areas I swam in, due to the breakwalls that run up and down the coast, separating the shores from the deeper, ocean water. Once in awhile, a barracuda would find its way into the reef area, my, what big teeth they have. Out there, you can see dolphins playing in the waves made by large yachts or ferries. Bottle-nosed dolphins are very social creatures and seem unafraid of humans. Some of the most memorable smaller fish and creatures I saw were brittle starfish (they live under rocks and will climb off your hand quickly if you try to hold one), octopus, conch, sea turtles, moray eels, blue tangs and of course, those feisty damselfish. Though I haven't gotten my scuba license, I went on a few professional scuba tours where the water was so shallow, snorkeling was possible. Tours are great for finding gorgeous coral gardens that aren't visible to everyone else. The prettiest ones I saw were near the town of Puerto Morelos.

Other places I liked to explore were the Cenotes Azul, and Dos Ojos. Cenotes are brackish water natural bodies of water that the Mayan indians used to build their villages around. Now, they sit in the jungle and tourists enter them to go cave diving. Underneath the Yucatan is an elaborate network of caves that attract cave-divers from all over the world. Not me, I preferred just swimming in the crystal clear water in the mouth of the cenotes, and observing the fish I saw. One of the cenotes had fish that I'd seen in pet stores back in the US, swimming there naturally. Jack Dempsey fish and green sailfin mollies, along with a kind of livebearer fish I didn't recognise. They were very colorful, and the Dempseys, being combative cichlids who like to pick on one another, had tattered fins. But, all the fish were very healthy. What a wonder it is to swim among them in their natural habitat. The nature around cenotes is interesting, too. I saw a basilisk run across the water, when I swam too close to him, and a duck that would dive for fish and stay underwater for a long time. Nature abounds in and around cenotes.

The nature of Mexico is plentiful and beautiful in all its forms. The tropical, hot climate brings out flora and fauna unlike anything I've ever seen in my home state of Ohio, or even in my current state of Florida. Living among the lush jungles, hearing jungle frogs sing at night and spending time with my wonderful Mexican co-workers, guides and friends changed my life. By being respectful of nature (look, don't touch) and watching where you walk, you will see clouds of butterflies, brilliantly colored birds, and animals like coatimundis, agoutis and others normally only seen in zoos. My employer promoted the preservation of Mexico's wildlife, and it was my honor doing artwork of all things natural for them. I miss walking the jungle path to their office weekly and seeing the zoo animals, as well as the wild ones in the trees. If you love nature, make sure to visit Mexico and go on tours to see the beauty of the wild, but with professionals who know where to take you. It will be an experience you will appreciate and remember forever.

[aivaehdaevis]

The More Things Change: Ch 14

The More Things Change

by Aivaeh

Disclaimer: Familiar characters, plot elements, and settings belong to L.J. Smith, Julie Plec, and the CW. The author of this work of fanfiction has made no money from it. Summary: I have no idea how it happened, but one morning I woke up in the world of The Vampire Diaries. Which, aside from the insanity of waking up inside a television show made real, might not be so bad—if I weren't stuck in the body of vampire magnet and doppelgänger herself, Elena Gilbert. Pairing(s): OFC x Damon, OFC x Stefan, OFC x Elijah, OFC x Klaus Rating: M Warning(s): Graphic descriptions of violence on par with the show itself. References to sex and drug use. Mind control and all the issues of consent that go along with it. Character death. Master List External Links: AO3 | FF.Net | Wattpad

Chapter Fourteen

The phone rang before I was fully up. Rolling out of bed, I stumbled more than walked to the desk and the cordless. “Hello?” I asked, voice sleep-rasped and hoarse. I used the chair to hold myself up.

“Elena! Hi!” The chipper greeting had my muddled brain begging for mercy.

“Caroline?” I cleared my throat. “Hey.”

Katherine. Out of the tomb.

I bolted upright, more awake than a pot full of coffee could have managed as my heart pounded. “Is something wrong?”

“Yes.” Despite her agreement, she didn’t sound as if she were dead and transitioning. I was fairly sure she’d sound less petulant if that were the case. “You and Bonnie. What’s going on?”

I blinked. “Huh?”

“I know you’ve got a lot to worry about with Jeremy,” Caroline began. “But this weirdness between you two started way before that. All I get from Bonnie is a bunch of nonsense about witches and dreams and weird feelings whenever she’s around you.”

Oh. Crap.

I ran a hand through Elena’s hair, falling back onto the bed. “I don’t know, Caroline. She did some reading the future thing at the Falls party. Said I wasn’t me. She’s been avoiding me ever since.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Caroline declared. “Bonnie always made out that her Grams was crazy. I had no idea she was starting to believe this witchy-woo. But that doesn’t explain why you aren’t demanding she deal with whatever it is. Why are you avoiding her?”

“It’s pretty obvious she doesn’t want to be around me. I don’t want to push.”

“Since when?” Caroline said, sounding equal parts incredulous and amused. “Elena, you are the queen of pushing.”

I ran my hand along the top of the blanket. “I—guess I’m just trying to give her space to work out… whatever.”

“Well, it clearly isn’t working. If you two don’t start getting along by the car wash, I’m going to lock you both in a room and make you work it out.”

“Car wash?”

“The Sexy Suds Car Wash?” Caroline enunciated. “The fundraiser for the athletics department next week?”

I paled. “Um, I don’t think—”

“Don’t you dare try to back out, Elena Gilbert. I know where you live.”

A little intimidated, I eyed the phone. “…Right.”

“Bring your ridiculously hot boyfriend.”

“We broke up.” I was never happier to be able to say that.

“What?! And you didn’t call me immediately?! Elena! What happened?”

I pursed my lips. “The stuff with Jeremy embarrassed him.” And then he got the original model back.

“You cannot be serious. What. A. Jerk!” Caroline huffed. “Come over. We’ll eat junk food, watch movies, and trash talk him.”

“I can’t. I promised Stefan I’d spend the day with him.”

Caroline’s voice was laden with suspicion. “You’re certain Damon didn’t break up with you because of how close you are to his brother?”

If Damon and I had been in a real relationship, he would’ve only seen that as a challenge, not a deal breaker. “Pretty sure.” I rubbed my face.

“We are going to talk all about this, Elena,” Caroline promised. Or threatened. It was hard to tell.

We said goodbye and hung up. I closed my eyes, hoping to get back to sleep. That hope was dashed after ten minutes passed where I was stuck examining the back of my eyelids.

I decided I might as well start the day.

It was another beautiful morning in Mystic Falls. A few wisps of clouds floated overhead like over stretched cotton balls, but otherwise the sky was clear. I was starting to grow used to the town and its old southern charm. I still missed the convenience of the city, but I couldn’t deny I was learning the appeal of small-town America.

The way to the Salvatore Boarding House was becoming as familiar as the high school. Pulling round and parking, I eyed the door, wary of what I’d find on the other side. Getting out of the car, I kept my ears open as I took my time walking to the entrance. I didn’t hear anything as I reached the front door. Taking a steadying breath, I knocked.

As soon as my knuckles hit the wood for the last rap it opened to reveal Stefan. “Elena,” he said, relief lightening his usually somber features. He stepped outside, leaving the door open behind him.

“Hi, Stefan.” My brow ticked up. “Eager to get out?”

Stefan exhaled. “I wasn’t sure when you’d be over, so I came back around five.”

Last I’d checked the SUV’s dash had showed nine thirteen. “You spent the whole night in the woods?”

“Stefan likes to commune with the squirrels.”

A shirtless Damon appeared in the doorway. Hair mussed, the older Salvatore radiated a languorous, after-sex glow. Stefan’s face shuttered as he turned to regard his brother.

I grabbed Stefan’s arm before he could say anything. “Let’s go for a walk.”

Stefan and Damon stared at one another. Finally, Stefan allowed me to lead him away from the porch.

“Show me the forest?” I asked, trying to pull his attention from the house.

Stefan adjusted his stride to match mine. “If you want.”

“Was the original Salvatore estate very far from here?”

“No.” His expression eased into something more relaxed. “You’d like to see it?”

“Yeah.” I meant it.

“There isn’t much of the old house left,” he warned.

I’d figured that. “I’d still like to see the area.”

He headed left towards the river. I followed.

Stefan was silent, forehead crinkled in thought as we walked. The woods were thin here. The sparsity of trees let in plenty of light and the underbrush flourished. Our footsteps rustled as the grass brushed against our legs. Mine were bare since I hadn’t planned to go hiking. I felt every blade that slid against my skin.

For the next fifteen minutes, while Stefan stayed lost in thought and I enjoyed the scenery, only birdsong and rustling leaves broke the quiet. Off in the distance was the tapping echo of a woodpecker.

Then, as the woods began to grow thicker, a small lane wound its way between the trees. The slide of grass on my legs disappeared as we stepped onto the path. Ahead stood two old brick columns topped with stone sculptures too broken to tell what they might’ve once been. “Is this…?”

Stefan’s eyes were on me, rather than the columns. “Yes.”

We walked between them and further up the lane. The first thing to catch my eye were the bricks stacked into what must have been a chimney. Half of it had fallen away, leaving the inner chamber bare to the elements. Some of the foundation’s masonry remained, but most had also crumbled away. The forest had reclaimed all the land surrounding it.

Stefan guided me around what must’ve been the main house. A small distance away stood a stone bench and the remnants of a pedestal, perhaps for a bird fountain. “Gardens,” he explained, sights sweeping across the tall trees that grew everywhere. I wondered what he saw in their place. Rows of hedges? Flowerbeds?

I turned around, staring at the foundation. Replacing it with the enormous house I had seen on the show in my mind’s eye. “A two-story white antebellum style estate.”

“Yes.” Branches crunched as Stefan moved up beside me. “How much of the past—”

“Just the… highlights.” I gazed at the trees, at how tall they were. Nearly a century and a half of growth. “Katherine arriving. You and Damon asking her to the ball. The evening after the ball.” Stefan’s brows lifted at that. My own furrowed. “She sent him away that night.” At his questioning look, I clarified, “Damon. After your confession, Katherine compelled him to leave her alone.” I turned to face him. “She always picks you, Stefan. When she’s forced to choose.” I frowned. “She’s not going to be content with Damon. She wants you. She’s convinced you want her too.”

Stefan’s gaze flickered off into the forest. “I’m not Damon, Elena. I’m not pining after someone who controlled me and turned me into a monster a hundred and forty years ago.” He looked back to me. “If it weren’t for Damon, I’d have been more than happy to leave her in that tomb to rot. Or stake her myself.”

His expression barely shifted. His voice sounded as serious as always. Yet there was something behind those eyes that nearly had me stepping back. A hatred that hardened his stare, revealed a shadow of something darker in his usually gentle gaze.

Something of the Ripper.

Uncomfortable with what I saw, I studied the whorls sculpted on the bench instead, it’s leaves and blossoms. I sat down, let the chill sink through my denim shorts into my skin. My heart began to slow.

Stefan stayed where he was, preternaturally still as a corpse. No movement in his face, no breath, no swaying with the breeze, nothing. He must have heard my heartbeat and knew I was unnerved.

His creepy stillness wasn’t really helping that much, but I pushed it aside. It was the thought that counted.

There was a pinecone beside the bench. I picked it up, tested the scales with my thumb. “I didn’t mean to say you want anything to do with her. But she’s not going to let you go so easily, Stefan.”

“You know this from your show?”

I nodded.

“You didn’t say anything about it.”

Breaking off a few of the bottom seeds, I tossed them to the ground. “The fact she was trying to gather the ingredients to break the curse seemed more important.”

Stefan leaned back against a tree, hands tucked into his pockets, staring down. “What did she do?”

“Threatened Elena’s family. Had Jenna stab herself in the stomach.” Another seed snapped off. “But you and Elena were together. She thought if she could get you to break it off, you would—I don’t know. Remember how you felt about her.” I shrugged. “Or she’s just sadistic.”

“Try the latter.” Stefan gave a harsh breath and shoved off the tree.

I flung the seed on the ground. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Elena isn’t here. You’re not together.”

He hunched over. “You should’ve mentioned this sooner.”

A crack echoed through the forest as I broke another seed. “It’s not an issue, Stefan. But she’s going to try—”

“Who said it isn’t an issue?” Stefan stared.

“Stefan, I’m not Elena,” I repeated, slow. “I know you call me that, but I’m not her.”

“I know,” he said, his regard open and steady.

I spread my hands. “Okay.” Bringing my hands back together, I snapped off another seed. “So like I said, it’s not an issue.”

A bitter smile curved his lips. “It’s not?”

My skin began to tingle. I dragged down a breath, but there wasn’t enough air. Rubbing my lips together, I managed a small, “No.”

“Elena.”

“I’m not Elena,” I snapped.

Stefan crossed the distance, sights fixed on me. “I know,” he repeated, careful and deliberate. It was my turn to stiffen as he crouched down, hands settling over mine.

I squeezed the pinecone until its seeds dug into my palms, cracking into pieces. “Don’t,” I whispered.

Stefan’s head fell forward, almost dropping onto my hands. First was the whisper of breath across the back of my knuckles. My own breathing paused. The woods became alive with the creak of swaying branches and hum of insects hidden beneath the grass and bushes.

His lips were firm yet gentle, a mere hint of pressure as they pressed against my hand. A gesture from an older time, when a grand house stood yards away, and the trees lined a great parcel of land. The hedges would’ve hidden us from the world, and the perfume of flowers would’ve filled the air rather than moss and earth and wood.

I finally dragged in a breath as his lips lifted. But then he followed, eyes big and greener than the leaves dancing overhead, watching me and gleaming with hope.

My heart clenched. I swallowed. “You don’t know me, Stefan.”

“I think I know what’s important,” he argued, soft and still careful.

But I thought of the last time he’d made declarations to this face, blind to what truly lay behind it. I exhaled a breath and pulled my hands from his. I looked to the crushed pinecone, pieces stuck to my palm, rather than the way his eyes and lips had fallen.

I stood, not sure where I was going, but needing to move. I ended up back at the house. Stepping over bricks, my sights were glued to the ground as I sought fallen and broken pieces of masonry beneath the leaves and twigs and spongy mosses. I could hear his footsteps behind mine. He wouldn’t let me go beyond arm’s length. Protective, I’d have once thought. Now I wasn’t sure if that was the only reason why.

I sucked down another breath, bringing our problems to the forefront. Hoping they’d help me forget the way his lips felt pressed against my skin. “Who were Isobel and John working with?”

Stefan sighed and answered, “Themselves?”

I did my best to ignore the disappointment in his voice.

“I suppose.” Isobel could have found out about the curse through her occult studies. And John would’ve learned through her. “Maybe I should talk to John.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Some of the Stefan I’d come to know came back, spurred on by chivalrous concern. “Damon said you think he’s like you.”

“Not exactly. I think something’s taken over John’s body, but I’m not sure what it is.” I brushed my hand off on my shorts. “It talked about a being stuck in this—hell of nothingness.” Stefan looked confused. I gave a small smile. “I know, it sounded crazy. But Esther said something followed me. And John was attacked on the other side by—whatever it is. It isn’t human, I know that much.”

“All the more reason why you shouldn’t talk to it.”

“But it wants to talk to me,” I argued. “It might, I don’t know, tell me something about what John was up to.”

“If it knows.”

“True.” I hadn’t known anything of Elena’s life before waking up in her body, after all.

“Let me try,” Stefan said. “If I don’t get anything, then you can.”

“Do you think they’re…” I grimaced, “finished?”

Stefan arched a brow. “If we’re going to talk to John, having Katherine distracted would be ideal.”

“Oh.” I rubbed my hands together, grit from the walk and the pinecone still stuck to my skin. “True.”

By unspoken agreement, we left Stefan’s old estate and headed back to the boarding house. A huge elephant trundling along between us the whole way.

As we approached the boarding house, Stefan cocked his head. “We should have time.”

I didn’t know what was more surprising. That he could hear them from all the way across the lawn, or that they were still in bed. I chose not to comment on either, following Stefan into the house.

We went straight for the door that led to the basement. Stefan opened it silently, pressing a finger to his lips and motioning me ahead.

I tiptoed as quietly as I could down the steps, Stefan moving down behind me. We reached the storage room and crossed it in silence. Stefan put a shoulder on my hand before we reached the door and stepped ahead of me. Lips pressed together, he pulled it open. It groaned. Stefan glanced upward, listening for a moment. They must not have heard us, because he swung it far enough for him to pass through.

This time he led the way through and held out a hand. He wanted me to stay near the storage room while he crossed the few feet between us and the cell. I hugged my upper arms and watched Stefan lean forward and peer inside.

Stefan’s eyes widened. He unlatched the door, taking no care to keep from making noise, and disappeared into the room.

“Stefan?” I whispered.

At first, there was no answer. Then, “Elena,” Stefan appeared at the doorway, mouth screwed into a grimace, eyes serious. “John’s dead.”

“What?” I darted down the hall and grabbed the door frame, skidding to a stop.

John was on the ground, eyes shut. Even without getting closer, I could tell he was gone. There’s something about the eerie stillness of death. It’s much more than just the lack of the chest rising or falling. It’s a total absence of everything, even warmth, as the body settles. The skin stiffens and turns sallow as the blood drains inside and pools. Everything freezes into place, from muscles to bones to tissue and veins.

But I had to be sure. Stepping carefully inside, I looked down at John. At the torn pink and white flesh of his neck glistening in the dim light. The blood that had dried beneath him, dark and sticky against the floor. There was far less than there should have been. Careful, I crouched beside him and pressed my fingers over his wrist.

I didn’t need to look for a pulse. He was cold.

My head turned to Stefan, who stared down, mouth a grim line. “Who did it?”

Stefan’s eyes narrowed. “Katherine.”

“Not Damon?”

“Maybe,” Stefan allowed. “But he could have killed John anytime.” He frowned. “It’s more likely he stood and watched. Or stayed upstairs and drank.”

I turned back down and stared at John. “Why?”

“Does she need a reason?” Stefan asked, bitterness darkening his tone.

Katherine caused death and chaos, but there was usually a reason behind the things she did. Manipulative, selfish reasons—but… Perhaps it had been nothing more than hunger. John had been convenient.

But perhaps not.

“Where’s Zach?” I asked, turning around.

“His car was gone this morning.”

“But where’d he go?”

Stefan shook his head. “I didn’t ask.”

Zach was right. They really didn’t notice what their human servants were up to. Not even Stefan. He and Damon still must’ve believed Zach could be compelled.

I stood and turned around, hurrying through the storage room. Whatever had been in John was back on the Other Side. I gripped the bracelet, rubbed my thumb along the beads and charms, inordinately glad of its presence. The thought of that—thing—being able to spy on me chilled me to the core.

But right now, I had hot blood pumping through my veins, thawing my fear. Either Damon had done it, or he’d done nothing to stop it.

“Damon!” I shouted, stomping up the staircase.

Stefan kept behind me. “Elena—”

“You swore you wouldn’t kill anyone, Damon!”

I reached the top and made for the stairs that led to the second level.

“Elena!” Stefan appeared in front of me, hand up. “Stop.”

“He promised!” I said, angling over his shoulder and shouting. “I guess his word is worth nothing.”

Stefan opened his mouth, then paused, turning to look up over his shoulder. He sighed.

A moment later, Damon appeared at the top of the staircase. Shirtless again, a lone pair of silk pajamas hung off his hips. “What’s she yelling about?”

Stefan rubbed his forehead. “John’s dead.”

Damon arched a brow. “And I’m supposed to care because?”

“Did you kill him?” Eyes narrowed, I climbed the last steps between us. I could smell the sweat on his skin. The musk of sex that had my nose wrinkling.

Damon glared down his nose at me. “No. I didn’t.”

“The man in the basement?”

I had to lean to the side to see around Damon. Katherine strutted down the hall, legs bare beneath the silk top that partnered Damon’s pants.

“Yes, the man in the basement,” I said. “Did you kill him?”

“Mhmm.” She stopped behind Damon, hand curling down one shoulder while she lifted up onto her toes, resting her chin on his other. “He was delicious.”

My head turned, glaring accusations as my lips pinched together. “You didn’t have to kill him.”

“No, I didn’t,” she agreed, lips turning into a little smile.

As the buffer separating Katherine and I, Damon’s eyes flickered between us. Stefan was wound so tightly, he practically vibrated behind me.

“Why?”

“Why not?”

I glared. “You don’t do anything without a reason, Katherine.”

Her hand slipped back off Damon’s shoulder. She sauntered slowly around him, coming up to me, instead. I found myself reflected in her dark eyes, expression as placid as a lioness as her sights swept over my figure. “You talk like you know me.” Her eyes flickered back up to mine. “But you don’t.”

“I know you well enough,” I shot back. I took a steadying breath. “I know you won’t kill me.”

Her brow arched. “You didn’t think that in the tomb.”

“You didn’t know who I was, before. You do now. I’m too valuable to kill.”

She leaned forward, and a finger trailed over my collarbone. “You’re assuming killing you is the worst thing I could do.” Her finger came to the end of my shoulder and fell away. “It’s not.”

…There was that. I took a deep breath through my nose to try and slow the sudden uptick of my pulse.

Damon watched us, eyes bright and gleaming.

“You haven’t heard my offer, yet,” I countered, once I was sure my voice wouldn’t tremble.

Katherine’s brows dipped. “Offer?”

I dared a step closer to her. It felt like stepping into a tiger cage. “Are you still interested in making a deal with Klaus?”

“You don’t deal with Klaus.” Her eyes wandered over me again. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to unnerve me or read me. Probably both. “You give him what he wants, or you die. Those are Klaus’ terms.”

“Then why go after the moonstone? Gather up a doppelgänger, a werewolf, and a vampire if not bargain with him?”

Katherine gave a slow blink. “I’ve been locked inside a tomb for over a century.”

I had nothing to say to that. I bit my lip.

“But your offer has… potential,” Katherine finally allowed, narrowed eyes fixed on me. “What is it you propose, exactly?”

“You give Klaus everything he needs to break the curse. And with your freedom leave Mystic Falls alone. Forever.”

“You leave. And don’t come back,” Stefan clarified.

Katherine looked past me to Stefan. Her eyes shifted back to me. “If you can deliver what you claim.”

“I’m the hardest ingredient to get, aren’t I?” It was a rhetorical question, and we both knew it. “And I know where the moonstone is.” Probably. Unless that was different too.

Head turning to the side as she gave a small curl of her lips, Katherine said, “We have an agreement, then.” Her chin tilted up. “I hand you and the moonstone to Klaus for my freedom, and never return.”

“I’ll go with you, Katherine,” Damon pledged.

Eyes narrowing, Katherine glanced over at him.

“Fine with me,” Stefan said, folding his arms.

My heart dropped. “You swore you’d stay.”

“If the tomb was empty,” Damon retorted. “It wasn’t.”

“You never stipulated the condition of the tomb.”

“Elena.” Stefan took my arm. “Let him leave. We’ll manage.”

Katherine’s head tilted further, displeasure stealing the gleam from her eyes. “You won’t be coming, Stefan?”

“No, Katherine.” Stefan turned to look at her. “I won’t.”

Katherine’s lips curled into a frown. “But it’s to be the three of us.”

“That was what you wanted. You never gave me a choice. If it were up to me, I’d have nothing to do with you.” Stefan nodded to me. “Elena insists we deal. But I’ll be all too happy to never see you again.”

Eyes wide, I held my breath. Katherine frowned. “That hurts, Stefan.”

“I don’t care,” Stefan replied, voice rough with hatred.

Katherine stared at him before that intense, predatory gaze transferred to me. I realized there was a way to tell us apart. Her eyes were darker than Elena’s and glittered with malice. “Hm.” She moved closer. “We’ll see how you feel after Klaus drains this—little shadow of mine,” she turned to look at the tense vampire beside me, “Stefan.”

My shoulders tightened as my stomach turned rock hard. I couldn’t even swallow against the sudden rigidness in my belly.

“If that’s all?” Damon said, taking hold of Katherine’s hand.

Stefan shook his head. “It’s not. John’s body needs to be dealt with.”

Damon’s brows rose. “So deal with it.”

“She’s your problem, Damon.” Stefan turned, and with a hand still around my arm, took me with him. “You clean up after her.”

Stefan led me back down the stairs. It wasn’t until I realized he was leading me out of the house that I asked, “What—”

“You’re leaving.” His tone brooked no argument.

Once outside, he guided me to the SUV. He let go at the driver’s side, turning me to face him. “That was dangerous, Elena,” he said, concern in the draw of his brows and the low curve of his mouth. “You shouldn’t antagonize her.”

My own brows pinched together. “What about you?”

Stefan shook his head. “I heal fast.”

“Stefan—” I was about to protest, but what sense I had reasserted itself. “You’re probably right,” I admitted.

He looked taken aback by my agreement. His lips quirked upward. “Call me when you get home.”

I nodded and climbed in. Before Stefan could shut the door, I asked, “What are you going to do?”

“Commune with the squirrels,” he said, voice wry, and shut my door.

We shared another of those long looks that were becoming typical for the two of us. I pulled out my keys and started the car.

That afternoon Jenna and I made a trip to the police station for another fun hour of sitting in awkward silence. I spent the rest of the day finishing up Elena’s homework.

It was a little after seven o’clock when the phone rang. The caller ID read Salvatore, Zachary.

“Zach?”

Damon spoke instead. “Turn on the news.”

Taking the stairs, I walked into the living room and picked up the remote. Powering on the television, I asked which channel. Damon directed me to Mystic Falls’ local station. A handsome reporter that epitomized telegenic spoke into a microphone. The graphic beneath him identified him as Logan Fell.

“…saying little about the remains. A tip to the Sheriff’s office identified the burial site. The sheriff promises…”

“They’ve found Sheila and Isobel,” Damon explained, annoyed, as the report continued.

I watched replayed footage of body bags being loaded into a coroner’s van. “You’re sure it’s them.”

“I know where I bury my bodies, Fake-lena. That shot’s off Brookside, a half-mile’s hike from where they’re at. Were at.”

“Maybe it’s another vampire’s burial ground.” My god. Had my life become this? Talking about burial grounds?

“Doubt it. I’d have smelt any other bodies.”

“What, like a cadaver dog?”

Damon ignored that. “It’s interesting they only found two bodies. I suppose they could still stumble across John.”

“How do you know one of the bodies isn’t John?”

“Because the report opened stating they found two women buried off Brookside road,” Damon explained, all faux patience.

“Liz could be covering up the fact they found him, too,” I muttered.

“We need to do something about this council of yours,” Damon replied.

“It’s not my council. And you infiltrated it.”

Damon hummed. “That does sound diabolically brilliant.”

“Or reckless and stupid,” I shot back.

“Someone’s in a snit.”

“Two bodies whose murder I was involved in were just dug up, Damon,” I hissed into the phone. “How should I be?”

“Technically, Isobel was already dead,” Damon pointed out, so unhelpfully. “Either way, don’t worry. They won’t find anything.”

“This is the era of CSI and DNA.” I was definitely going to worry.

“This isn’t my first time covering up forensic evidence, Fake-lena.” I could hear Damon’s impatience.

I was about to ask if he was always this much of an ass when his murder victims were uncovered—though I supposed technically they were Stefan’s—when I heard the front door open. “Someone’s here.”

“Not me.”

“Yes, Damon. I figured that,” I sighed, moving back to the hallway. I rounded the doorway and took one glance down the hall towards the door.

I nearly dropped the phone.

John smiled at me. “Hello, Elena.”

I stared at the large bandage covering his neck, mouth open, horrified. His color was horrible. Even under the yellow houselights, he looked bleach white. “John?”

“Where the hell have you been?!” Jenna demanded as she appeared from the kitchen like an avenging valkyrie.

“Detained.” He winked at me.

“Damon,” I uttered into the phone, “I have to go.”

“What? We have a situation—”

“John’s here.”

Silence, then, “What?”

“I said Uncle John’s here.”

“Uh, no. No he’s not. Because I have his ring, Elena.” There was distinct irritation mixing with confusion in his voice now. “The one that raises the dead?”

“Uh huh. I’ll… call you later.”

“No. You come over. Right. Now.”

Uncle John was staring at me over Jenna’s shoulder. “Fine.” I hung up and placed the phone on the hall table. “Jenna? I’m heading over to Stefan’s.”

Jenna paused in her tirade against John to turn to me. “Again?”

“I’m not sure I like you going over to the Salvatore’s, Elena,” John said. Whatever it was, it didn’t look happy.

Jenna’s lips mashed together and she glared at John. “You know what? Have fun. Be back by nine.”

“Okay,” I said, heading off to the kitchen as fast as I could go without outright running. “Bye!” I shouted, grabbing the keys off the holder and rushing out the door. I did run, once the storm door shut behind me, all the way into the garage.

My hand shook as I stuck the key into the ignition. What the hell? How was John back? He’d been dead!

I forced myself to breathe and calm down as the garage door lifted. By the time I backed out, my heart was merely trotting instead of galloping. I eased out and started for the boarding house. Again.

It was a crisp night out. Chilly enough I kept the window up and turned the heat on. My head swam with implications. How the hell had John—or whatever was possessing John—gotten back up? More than that, it sounded as if Damon had buried him. His clothes hadn’t been dirty. Where had he gotten them? What about the bandage on his neck? Was his wound still there? Didn’t the ring heal wounds like that? But he hadn’t had the ring, so—

A person appeared in the middle of my headlights.

I gasped, slamming the breaks and twisting the wheel hard to the right. But there would be no avoiding them.

The body thudded against the corner of the SUV’s hood. Coming down like a mallet, their head cracked against the windshield. There was another thud as it flew up and over the roof. They rolled off the side of the SUV and slammed into the road.

The SUV screeched to a halt. Gripping the wheel, I stared out the windshield. Through the spiderweb of cracks spread out from where a forehead had smashed into the glass. “Oh my god,” I whispered, repeating myself a few times. I turned, was about to shove the door open when…

I remembered what world I was in.

I blinked, hand resting on the door handle. This was Damon’s favorite trap. Get hit and run over, then when someone runs over to check on him, grab and feed.

They had come out of literally nowhere. The road had been clear, and then someone was standing in the middle of it, looking at me.

Unless I was misremembering things in order to assuage my conscience. Had they been crossing? Mind swimming in adrenalin, making it hard to think, I wasn’t sure.

“Shit, shit, shit,” I whispered, uncertain what to do. I couldn’t just… leave. What if it wasn’t a vampire? What if I’d actually hit someone?

What if it was a vampire?

Skull buzzing, I wrestled with the question of what to do. Get out, check? Drive off? What if I left someone to die I could’ve helped? But in this world… I ran a hand through my hair, torn. I looked back over my shoulder.

The body was gone.

I cursed and slammed down on the gas.

The engine revved. The wheels screeched against the road. The SUV didn’t move.

A fist smashed through the window. It unfurled into a hand that gripped the door.

Twisting and tearing apart, metal screamed as a yank ripped the door clean off the car. Tossed aside, it whooshed through the air. Rubber burned against concrete as spinning tires struggled to propel the SUV forward.

The hand wrenched at the seatbelt and broke it from its mooring, flinging it aside.

It grabbed onto my arm. I had the wheel in a death grip, the gas pedal pressed to the floor. I nearly broke my fingers and wrists trying to hold on when the vampire hauled me out. I ended up pressed against them in a kind of Heimlich bear hug. The swell of a chest told me my attacker was a woman.

I shouted, fear and fury powering my scream. I swung my feet with wild abandon. Each kick smashed my heels into sharp shin bones. If she flinched, I couldn’t tell. She did nothing but stand there, holding my back flush against her.

Another vampire covered in a dark hoodie let go of the back of the SUV, explaining why the vehicle hadn’t shot off. Not that I could’ve outran them.

An arm moved from beneath my ribcage and a hand wrapped around my throat. It squeezed. The breath I’d drawn all my life stopped. My eyes bulged. Frantic, my mouth gulped for air I couldn’t suck in, even as my belly moved to draw it down. There was nothing.

Suffocation is a long process. It’s terrifying on a primal level. A whole minute and a half passed until the need to breathe became urgent. Another thirty seconds before the night began to close in and colors danced in front of my eyes. My struggles weakened as my body and mind grew lethargic. Everything slowed, even my once frantic struggles to breathe.

And then it all went dark.

[sending-the-message]

Case #2- Youtube's Most Mysterious Vlogger Part 3 (Final) by JacobMielke

(This is the conclusion to Case #2. Part one can be read here and part two can be read here )

Noonan Park was small, not much more than 150 acres. The parking lot adjacent to it was empty, perhaps because it was so early in the morning. Looking at it from the outside (not to mention the maps I’d studied before arriving) it didn’t seem like there could be a house in there. Not a secret one anyway, and it had to be secret if it was built in a state park.

I was hesitant to go in. All through the night and morning I kept turning the case over in my head, trying to find an alternative to the conclusion I kept arriving at: I was being led by something that wanted me here, for reasons unknown. My presence was expected.

It should have been easy to avoid the trap; all I had to do was turn around and walk away. But Moxxy was missing, seemingly a victim of whatever had killed and impersonated the Youtuber Opperyke, and I couldn’t abandon her to whatever fate that thing had in store. She was still alive, I knew it. If the thing wanted her dead, it would have killed her like it did Ms. Cranston and Opperyke himself. Their bodies were left for the world to find. There was no reason to physically take Moxxy except to use as bait. And every fisherman knows live bait is the best bait.

There were several trails leading into the park. I picked one at random and made my way in.

Everything was still and silent. No wind rustled the trees, no animals moved through the brush. There were no insects chirping or doves cooing, no tapping of a woodpecker’s beak on the bark of trees and no bubbling of any nearby streams.

Ever since I started Mielke Investigations I’d been developing a sense for knowing when I was in the presence of something supernatural. It started in the basement of the strip club during our first case, when I felt a presence in the dark rather than saw it and it happened again during this case after Ms. Cranston’s diary found its way to my motel room and something unseen followed it in.

And now I had the feeling again. Something was in Noonan Park, shadowing my every step. In my experience, it was best not to acknowledge malevolent entities unless they acknowledged you first, so I remained silent.

A part of me never really believed there was a house in these woods. The park was too small, someone would have seen it by now. So when I saw the two story building of gray stone, I was surprised. It was somewhat hidden; it was surrounded on all sides by trees and there was more vine-covered area than not, but I still found it hard to believe no park official ever noticed. Perhaps it was old enough to have been there before the woods became state land.

I had to hurry if I was going to explore the house. It was starting to get dark and I didn’t bring a flashlight…

Because why would I? It was early when I arrived. I pulled out my phone and checked the time. I’d been wandering a 150 acre park for over eight hours. Behind me, something laughed. I didn’t hear it.

I was probably violating a few laws by breaking in, even if the place was abandoned. The door to the house was locked but it was also made of old, rotting wood. One good shove forced it open. A rush of air from inside swept over me. It smelled and tasted stale, of course, but there was something else mixed with the old air, a faint whiff of odor that reminded me of the rancid smell of a recycling plant.

I stepped inside, leaving the door open to let some light in. The place was filthy and cobwebs covered everything I saw. The ground was littered with the corpses of many thousands of insects and arachnids. There were also bones scattered here and there that looked to belong to rodents and birds. A few were big enough to belong to a raccoon or opossum.

There were footsteps on the ceiling. The feeling that there was something unnatural near me was stronger than ever. Whatever resided here was responsible for the deaths of at least two people. I had to tread carefully.

I had nothing on me to serve as a weapon and even if I did, I doubted anything physical could hurt the entity I was hunting. Even so, I went outside and picked up a hefty rock. It might have been useless for protection, but it made me feel better anyway.

I took the stairs one at a time and they thankfully seemed to be less rotted than the door. There were a multitude of rooms on the top floor and sounds were coming from one of them.

I looked inside and the muttering stopped. The figure standing in the empty room turned to look at me. I dropped the rock and ran to her, pulling her into a bear hug. Moxxy responded by wrapping her own arms around me but she did it slowly.

“Jacob? Where am I? Is this where we’re meeting for coffee?”

Her words were slurred and her eyes didn’t focus on me when I pulled out of the hug to look at her. “What do you remember?”

She looked around the room, as if she might find her thoughts scattered about. “I was on the computer and I got up to use the bathroom or get something to eat or… something. I was looking for something and I got lost and I just kept walking until I ran into you. But that doesn’t make any sense, does it? Where are we?”

“It doesn’t matter. Right now, let’s get out of this place. I’ll tell you everything outside.”

She nodded a few seconds longer than necessary and moved toward the door. I blinked and everything changed. Moxxy was gone, the door was shut, and the only illumination came from the moonlight streaming in through the window. I froze as my mind tried to make sense of what just happened. It was still light out a moment ago; all I did was blink.

“Alone at last.”

The voice came from within the room, but I couldn’t see the source. I so badly wanted to panic but I knew if I did, that was it for me. So I concentrated on my breathing, in through the nose, out through the mouth. Slow and deliberate.

“I’ve been watching you for a long time, Jacob. I’ve studied you far longer than you’ve studied me. I like what I see.”

Don’t engage it, leave the room. Get moving, don’t engage it. Don’t engage it, don’t engage it…

“I know you have questions. Ask them. You’ve crossed hundreds of miles to see me. Now’s your chance to learn. I’ll tell you everything, if you just ask. Do you want to know my secret?”

“What are you?” Shit, I engaged it.

“I’m an abstract. I live off of stories. The boy who found me was a good storyteller and his stories attracted thousands on his video channel. Their attention fed me well. But I want more. I want what your stories can give me. Above everything else, I want you.”

“You can’t have me, but if you let me go, and Moxxy too, I’ll give you stories. I’ll share them with everyone. I’ll tell the whole world about you. Will that be enough for you?”

There was silence for a moment, then: “For now, yes. But sooner or later, you’ll give yourself to me. You’re not ready yet, but you can’t resist forever. You’re like me, you love the stories. You need to know.”

“I know your secret now. Will you let me and Moxxy go, in exchange for the story?”

“Write the story and all will be well. For now.”

“Great.” I willed my feet to move and left the room. I took the stairs two at a time and right as I reached the house’s front door, the voice spoke again.

“You’re wrong about one thing. You don’t know my secret, not yet. But I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be watching you, always. When you’re ready to know, just ask.”

Moxxy was waiting for me when I left the house. She sat on the ground near a boulder, arms wrapped around herself, shivering. She didn’t look at me as I approached but spoke softly when I helped her to her feet. “You were gone a long time. Where did you go? Where did I go?”

I took her by the arm and led her along the path. “Everything’s going to be okay. I promise.”

Moxxy came out of her delirium on the bus ride back to Milwaukee. I recounted the whole story to her, how a strange entity came here from another world seeking stories and storytellers. I explained how it latched onto Opperyke, killing him and using his Youtube channel to feed on the attention. I told Moxxy how it had kidnapped her to lure me in, believing I would be a better source of stories than Opperyke and the deal I’d made with it in exchange for our safety.

She didn’t say much after that. A couple of the other bus passengers urged me to seek psychiatric help though.

When we got back to Milwaukee, Moxxy told me she needed some time away from me and the investigative service we’d started together. I worried that was the end of our friendship. I couldn’t blame her if it was.

I wrote down everything that happened, at least everything I was willing to share with you readers, and saved it my Case #2 folder on my laptop. I would keep up my end of the bargain with the entity and share the story with the world someday. I’d share all of them, but it wasn’t time yet (I didn’t think it would mind waiting, after all, what sense of time does an abstract being have?). I needed to work on more cases, enough to keep the stories coming for a long time. God only knows what it would do to me if I ran out of tales to tell.

I continued to work on cases and record stories over the months and years to come. I still do to this day and I’m finally sharing them with you, dear readers. Now you know my reasons weren’t entirely selfish.

I can’t say I mind much. I wouldn’t be in this line of work if I wasn’t drawn to the supernatural and the tales they tell me. In some way, the entity was right. I am just like it, snapping up stories and sharing them with the world. I thrive on stories and am happiest when I’m telling them.

The entity mostly leaves me alone. No one else has been threatened or attacked because of me. Oh, every once in awhile it’ll do something to make its presence known. It’s just reminding me that it’s always there, always watching, waiting for me to share our story. And sometimes, not often, I’ll wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and a voice will whisper to me:

“Do you want to know my secret?”

(That concludes Case #2 of Mielke Investigations. To read Case #1, go here More cases are on their way.)

[nofomoartworld]

Hyperallergic: Beer with a Painter: Tom Uttech

Tom Uttech, “Ajawakamig (1014)” (2017), oil on linen, 84 x 96 inches, 91 1/2 x 103 1/2 inches including artist’s painted frame (all images courtesy Alexandre Gallery)

Tom Uttech greets me in Saukville, Wisconsin and leads me to his studio carrying a tall walking stick. Uttech lives and works on a former farm, and is an advocate of prairie restoration and an avid bird watcher. He has reestablished hundreds of native plants to the fields around his home, and reported sightings of record numbers of bird species to Wisconsin ornithological groups. The studio — a converted barn — is a workshop for these multiple interests: containing not only major paintings in progress along with his own black-and-white landscape photographs, but also animal skulls and antlers, lengths of bark, old tools, bird nests, vintage Native American canoes hanging from rafters, binoculars, and well-thumbed bird guides on sturdy drafting tables. He is curious to know what a New York writer is going to make of it all, and conscious that his work is anomalous.

As beautiful as the fields and old stone walls around his home are, his paintings are actually studio inventions, based on memories of canoeing and camping in the northern reaches of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Canada — a true wilderness. They are both highly fictionalized and hyper-real: invoking sublime American landscape painting and magic realism, with a dreamy but tightly realized rhythm of compositional organization. The landscapes are populated by dozens of intricately rendered creatures: wolves, bears, moose, and birds — running or flying from right to left, or facing us head-on and unflinching. His wide, flat, pine molding frames are part of the work: stained and decorated with painted images of animals, tracks, canoes, and fish.

We decide to sit outside so that Uttech can give me a lesson in birdcalls while we talk about art. Our conversation is punctuated by his observations; he pauses to point out the sounds of house wrens, a red-bellied woodpecker, a Great crested flycatcher, a hummingbird, an Eastern wood peewee, and a red-winged blackbird. The awe and reverie in his paintings is matched by his pragmatic directness. In the newest paintings, this quality is even more present.  They have frontal symmetry of organization: it is a maximalist vision of nature, both orderly and untamed.

Tom Uttech in his studio

Uttech was born in 1942 near Wausau, Wisconsin. He studied at the Layton School of Art and University of Cincinnati, and he was a professor of art at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, until 1998. Since the inclusion of his paintings in the 1975 Whitney Biennial, his work has been the subject of more than 40 one-person exhibitions. Examples of his work can be found in the collections of the Chazen Museum of Art, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas; the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Georgia; the Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., among many others. His work is represented by Alexandre Gallery, New York, where a solo exhibition of his paintings is currently on view.

 *   *   * 

Jennifer Samet: Do you have any memories of drawing or art-making from childhood that stay with you?

Tom Uttech: According to my mother, I was never unhappy if I had a piece of paper and a crayon in front of me. That started when I was still sitting in a high chair. The two things that brought me pleasure were art and birds.

My first memory is from before I was three years old. I was living with my grandparents, since my father was in the Navy at the time. My grandfather had a cheese factory and a farm, and it was a beautiful spring day, when the grasses were very green. As I was looking out across the field, a red-winged blackbird coasted through. They perform a certain type of a flight when they are about to land — singing and proclaiming territory. So I saw this absolutely black bird, with a red epaulet, fringed by yellow, against the green field. I’ve always wanted to replicate that experience, but of course that can’t happen.

When my dad returned, we moved to town, to Wausau, and I’d go out and watch the nighthawks. Most kids would be doing other sorts of things. My interest in art and birds were two strikes against me as far as normalcy.

Installation view of Tom Uttech: New Paintings (2017), Alexandre Gallery, New York

JS: You did your undergraduate work in Milwaukee and then went to the University of Cincinnati for your MFA. Who were some of your influential teachers there?

TU: My experience at Layton School of Art in Milwaukee was very positive. I was lucky to have teachers who let me follow my own path, including Guido Brink, a German immigrant from the Bauhaus, from Düsseldorf. He had been in the Nazi army. He understood that my interest was to replicate the feeling of an experience, rather than describing the appearance of it. In two years, he hardly said a word, but I remember one thing he did say. If a painting was not working, no matter what the problem was, he would say, “Paint a tree yellow.” It’s a way of jarring reality. I still don’t follow that advice, but it’s a great attitude.

My experience at the University of Cincinnati was unpleasant, and I was in an environment that was not supportive of the kinds of unusual interests that I had. After graduating and teaching for a few years, I became disillusioned.  There was a big discrepancy between what the art world was supporting and what I wanted to do. I tried to adjust. Over time, I realized the work I was making was a compromise, between who I was as a person and who I was as an artist. I reached a point where I decided, “If this is art, I’m not an artist.”

But when my daughter was two or three years old, I would sit with her while she was watching Sesame Street, and I would draw. Since I had made the decision that I wasn’t an artist, none of it meant anything or was important. So I could do anything. I drew things until I got sick of them and then tried other things.  I expelled the compromised ideas I had been working with, and in the process, a new set of images emerged. They returned to my appreciation of the northern landscape. Images came to me from reading Finnish mythology. I was led to that through the music of Jean Sibelius. I made a series of paintings of with biomorphic images, such as landscapes populated by women with deer heads. It was 10 years of real weirdness, and during that period I was teaching in the art department of the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, with students following current interests such as highly minimalist paintings and conceptual work.

JS: How does drawing fit into your process now? Do you plan the paintings by drawing them out?

TU: They are not at all pre-planned in the drawing stage. I like to start without any idea of how it’s going to end up. I invent a place where I’d like to be, or a place where I can create this unified experience. It is like starting out on a canoe trip and not knowing what is going to happen. That is wonderful as an experience. The drawing of the painting becomes the most enjoyable part of the whole painting process, because I’m able to spend my time finding things.

JS: I know that your paintings refer not to this landscape, where we are now in Wisconsin, but to an area farther north. How is specificity of place significant to you, even though you work from memory in your studio?

Tom Uttech, “Ganawaabandiwag (Northern Lights)” (2003/2017), oil on linen, 66 x 72 inches, 73 x 79 inches, including artist’s painted frame

TU: There are places I feel a spiritual affinity for. They are found in an area of the North Woods geologically known as the Canadian Shield, which stretches from central Canada all the way out to Newfoundland, and which dips into the extreme north of the northern US.  It is a land of glacial lakes, boreal plants and animals, and few human inhabitants. When I am there, I feel at home, complete, and invisible. I try to have my paintings contain and communicate that feeling.

JS: Are there experiences in the wilderness that have been particularly spectacular and have informed your work in some way?

TU: There are many, like the time I was camping on a small island with a group of friends. We were sitting around a fire late at night. We didn’t know it, but there was a wolf on the island with us, and he started howling. There is something about the transmission of that voice and the sound waves that I could feel in my body, rather than hear.

JS: Why are the birds in your paintings all flying from right to left?

TU: It is not about anything you might imagine. I was making a landscape painting that was not looking interesting. I figured I had nothing to lose; I couldn’t ruin a painting that was already ruined. So, I decided it might be more interesting if I added two or three wolves in it. Then I thought it would be more interesting yet if they were running. For no particular reason, they went through in that direction.

It did make the painting more interesting, so I added even more. They were all moving in one direction. Something was born. After doing it accidentally, I had to do it again. I’ve tried paintings where they go in different directions, and the paintings never feel right.

I often think it’s easier to draw a creature if you start at the nose. I’m right-handed so it works that way. Drawing it from the tail to the head for a right-hander feels like doing everything backwards. On the surface it is totally superficial, but, sometimes, decisions like that may reveal more — a deeper quality of some sort.

JS: Although you are working from memory, photography must play a role in these paintings. How do you paint the specific species of birds that are represented?

TU: I use the illustrations in David Allen Sibley’s book, The Sibley Guide to Birds, because it is only when birds are flying that they expose the patterns and shapes of their wings. However, when they are flying, it is all a big blur. We would never be able to see those details. In that sense, one of the crazy things is that the paintings are so wrong. We are able to see all that, as if I was capturing a 100th of a second.

Tom Uttech, “Kikinawadad (996)” (2017), oil on linen, 32 x 36 inches, 38 1/2 x 42 1/2 inches including artist’s painted frame

JS: Can you tell me about the painted frames, which are a significant element of your work?

TU: While I was teaching at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, I was exposed to several influential and politically important professors who followed strict formalist theories. It was not correct to refer to the image of a tree and call it a tree. It was necessary to call it a green vertical shape. When I berated the limiting characteristics of that practice to a faculty member, he sarcastically asked, “Well, do you want us to start teaching rosemåling?” I walked away thinking, “Why not? That stuff is pretty interesting.”

At the time I had begun to use wide frames, and I thought adding decorations to them would bug him. So of course I had to do it. The decorations started with northern themes, like moose tracks, and gradually grew into images that complimented and augmented the information in the painting itself. They could tell a different story, and therefore make the whole story more complex and interesting. I was hooked.

JS: Many of your paintings utilize a deliberate symmetry of organization, and in your newest paintings there is a vertical symmetry. How do you think about symmetry and compositional organization?

TU: There is a lot of symmetry in life, of one kind or another. One of the neatest things about nature is that it is totally chaotic at all times, while it is simultaneously totally organized. And a lot of that organization has to do with symmetry. Symmetry is life; it’s reality. That is magic. Painting, hopefully, can do that too.

The symmetry of the reflections is a different story. In the far north, twilight lasts a long time. If you paddle at just the right pace on a calm day, you will see in the water a perfect reflection of the real world. This upside-down world exists just like the “real” world, although it’s not actually there. It becomes like a ghost; it seems to complete reality.

Tom Uttech, “Nanagatawendamowin (994)” (2017), oil on linen, 66 x 60 inches, 73 x 67 inches including artist’s painted frame

If the water is clear, it further complicates and completes the meaning of life. The things we see under the water — fallen trees, submerged plants and fish and such — are real, but they exist in a realm where we humans are denied entrance. So there is a combination of real, unreal, and also unavailable. That is mind altering. I want to generate that in my painting — not describe its appearance. So far I am not totally satisfied with my efforts.

JS: Although you are making representational painting, you seem also to have a real affinity for abstraction. Who are some of the artists you think about?

TU: Even though I rebelled against rigid formalism, I do know and love the necessary role that formal abstraction plays in visual communication. I love the way the early Abstract Expressionists were able to do so much without representing anything, and how older representational painters like Vermeer made paintings that are actually rigidly abstract. Joan Mitchell is one of my absolute favorite painters. I wish I had had the chance to get to know her. She must have been a dervish — all the work she did, and the energy. Her paintings are all so good; they never disappoint me.

The same is true of Willem de Kooning. The paintings say that you don’t need the representation to express the feeling. J.S. Bach, and a lot of music, does that. Instead, you are being transformed out of life into something else, which is undefinable. I’ve been very jealous of de Kooning. He was able to paint beautiful paintings that are some of the most abstract paintings ever. They are not about anything, and he gave them incredible, specific titles, like “Montauk Point.” What can I do? “Landscape with birds.”

JS: Can you tell me about your painting’s titles?  I had assumed they were names of places.

TU: They used to be, but then I ran out of names of places I’ve been. They are words in the Anishinaabe or Ojibway language. I title them after the sound of the word, and then, secondarily, the meaning of that word. It is meaningful to me because I grew up surrounded by their words and came to love, respect, and appreciate both the language and my contacts with its speakers. I like the way that language can reflect the physical character of the North Woods and therefore further complete the experience of seeing my paintings.

JS: How do you think about the play between a symbolic or visionary depiction in your work, and the highly specific elements that are represented?

TU: I want to use the metaphoric possibilities of painterly technique to energize the stories the paintings are telling. For instance, when painting trees, I often try to use erosion as a method. Paint is applied in a very liquid consistency and allowed to freely run down the painting. I augment this by flooding the space with turpentine, which further erodes it. The painting process replicates the natural forces that cover the face of a tree or cliff, and I’m simultaneously representing its appearance. If a tree is painted this way, it will communicate differently than if it were painted with gooey impasto. This nearly uncontrolled erosion is contrasted with tightly rendered birds and animals. This is hard to do successfully.  But that contrast is fun and adds a lot of spice.

Tom Uttech, “Nin Kikinge (998)” (2017), oil on linen, 21 1/2 x 27 1/2 inches, 27 x 33 inches including artist’s painted frame

Recently, I was sitting down by the creek on a chair of two rocks, made by the man who built this place, including all the stone walls. He had an uncanny relationship to rocks, like a Zen priest. It was an evening after there had been an inch of rain, and the creek was roaring like mad.  It became a sensory experience like the wolf calling.

After a while it was no longer a literal experience, for my mind was lost in a reverie of complete peacefulness. I was no longer a hungry person with a bad knee. I was a consciousness that was a part of the creek, and rock, and the falling light of night approaching. I felt the same as the mosquito biting my face, and the breeze disturbing its meal. Attaining this state is important to me. I keep trying to use all the forces of painting to replicate that, so I can repeat it for myself — and, if I do it well enough, share it with viewers.

The post Beer with a Painter: Tom Uttech appeared first on Hyperallergic.

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[bobs-spaces]

   Here is a collection of pictures and comments from Science Teacher members of the NSTA (National Science Teachers Association) who viewed the August 21st total solar eclipse from different locations across the United States of America. The State where the picture(s) was/were taken is abbreviated to be part of the picture name – so you could scroll down to the bottom of the picture to see that.    The caption below a picture starts the sequence of pictures from each teacher. Clicking on any picture will open it into a slide show where you can move forward or backward through the various pictures.    From Ryan Westberry: Here’s a video I made after watching the totality in Wyoming at Green River Lakes just off the center line. I sent my drone up really high to capture the landscape while also filming our reactions on the surface- and set it all to music. I did edit the language in the beginning of totality (overcome by that moment) but there are some “Oh S^*t” toward the end that need to be known if anyone plans on showing it. (I’m not promoting that.) I’m just wanting to share in the emotion (I was literally shaking and had tears of joy) and magnitude of watching the event and the love of the science. 🙂

   Here is one of the 360o videos I made while the school yard was filling up with families and the students.

   If you are wondering what do with any eclipse glasses perhaps donate them to the Eclipse Glasses Donation Program – organized by Astronomers Without Borders.

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Missouri: Briarcliff Elementary School students.

Missouri: Waiting patiently for the start.

Missouri: Briarcliff students getting ready

Wyoming: Drove out with my sister to Grand Island, NE from Wisconsin. I was concerned about cloud cover in Nebraska, so we got up at 4am on the morning 21st to drive for clear skies further west. Ended up in Fort Laramie, WY with beautiful weather. I know that my pictures aren’t nearly as neat or crisp as others, but this was my experience with this rare event. Took the eclipse image through the lens of my solar scope, along with another shot with my sister. On a side note, sure, the eclipse was pretty neat, but what affected me more was knowing that nearly everyone on the road during those couple days were there for the eclipse. It was this thought that made wading through traffic on the way back much easier for me. Being out it Wyoming, on the long windy and rolling hills, cars like ants crawling through the distance, I couldn’t help but think of myself as part of a convoy, similar to the Oregon Trail. Yet, instead of wagons, it was SUVs coming all the way from New York to Manitoba. I know I’m sounding a little poetic here, but this impacted me more than the eclipse itself.

Wyoming:

Wyoming: I drove 6,000 miles in total, from CT to Wyoming to see the eclipse in Jackson Hole with another teacher friend who flew from CT (I also went to a number of parks and monuments… a wonderful trip in total). But the highlight was totality. My friend brought two solar telescopes with her and we were able to see the details of the entire eclipse, complete with sun spots. As it neared totality, the birds all started calling and flying madly, then settled down and became silent as though it were night. A cat came walking out in the street, clearly unnerved — its tail was all puffed up and it kept looking around as if very confused and worried. And it got quite chilly. Jackson is at about 8,000′ and I had to go get a jacket — I’d say the temperature dropped at least 25 degrees. Altogether, stunning. So glad I made the trip.

Texas: South Texas only had a 50% version of the eclipse. We took a couple of Sunspotters out in front of our main office along with a handful of the glasses and some punched tag board. Our sky cleared up only a few minutes before the maximum coverage–it rained briefly at the beginning of the eclipse event and you can see the clouds in one of the views attached. While I really enjoyed seeing the eclipse through various viewers, what was really cool was our finance and other non-science staff who stopped by as they came back from lunch and looked at the image on the Sunspotters and took selfies or got us to take pictures of them with the images. Observing the staff go from nonchalant to kids again was great!

Texas:

Texas:

Texas:

Texas: Much better images than mine, but we only had 61% where I am. I did especially enjoy the tree shadows.

Texas:

South Carolina: We were on a boat in the middle of Charleston Harbor, anchored off of a small island that is a bird sanctuary. As soon as totality hit, all of the birds took off at once. It was very cloudy so it didn’t get as dark as we expected…reflection? We could see the “sunset” all around. I’m already making plans for 2024!

South Carolina: Thanks for starting this topic and for all the great images from people’s experiences! I drove to SC from NH to explore data collection in light intensity and temperature readings on land cover with small sensors that the teachers have been using on classroom phenomenon. We set up a cross the totality path with people willing to carry along the same sensors set at the same timing. Weather was especially helpful, adding tension by sending in one fat cloud that the sun escaped just at the last minute before the total event! I use an old digital camera that posts the date and time on the image and the picture below verified how close we came to missing the “main event”. Total started at 2:41. While these photos are not classic, thinking about evidence and alignment with data their importance to alignment with the data capture was essential. I felt connected to those watching but also to those who carried along the data loggers and shared the further project. Will take me some time to explore them and share with the teachers and sites in partial locations also using the same loggers.

South Carolina:

Oregon: I was lucky to have a sister in Oregon who arranged for us to stay with friends in Sisters, Oregon, just at the edge of being able to see the totality. My spouse and adult daughter came with me, happily. Surprisingly the traffic was very light, and thanks to firefighters there was very little smoke in the air. Plans were in place with glasses, colander, and champagne. Using the glasses (thank you NASA) we saw the totality, less than 1 minute, noted the change in light, birds quieting and temperature dropping. Knowing that the “cosmic coincidence” of Sun and Moon sizes and distance from the Earth makes our planet the only one in our solar system that experiences a total solar eclipse and seeing it in a community of science-interested people made it even more special. (We also saw new-to-me birds: White-headed woodpeckers, Mountain chickadee, Pygmy nuthatch.) On the NSTA Early Years blog, a preschool teacher posted about the preparation her class went through, their experience, and the follow-up questions they are investigating. http://nstacommunities.org/blog/2017/08/30/eclipse-report-from-preschool/

Oregon:

Oregon:

Oregon: Jordan Makower

Oregon:

New Jersey: We took the first picture the night before the eclipse over the Barnegat Bay in NJ. The second pic is from the beach with an iPhone in Lavallette, NJ

New Jersey:

Nebraska: This was my first eclipse as well. We had about 2 1/2 minutes in the heart of Nebraska’s beautiful Sand Hills just north of where I live. I did not attempt to photograph it…I left that to professionals. I couldn’t, however, resist taking this panoramic image during totality and managed to catch my daughter’s silhouette. It was partly cloudy that day as you can tell in the photo, but our view of the eclipse was completely clear during totality. It was an amazing experience. Absolutely breathtaking and beautiful!

Missouri: My viewing location was with 350 elementary school kiddos, staff, and parents. We had 80 seconds of totality but clouds covered the sky during totality with a few breaks giving everyone a chance to cheer but not for long. Rain started a few minutes later so from where I was we saw the first half only. My 4th total eclipse and still blown away.

Missouri: Sunspots!

Missouri: That’s the star Regulus in Leo the Lion to the left.

Louisiana: Taken in New Iberia, Louisiana by one of my students. We had a 73% eclipse. 🙂

Kentucky: It is also great for making projections on t-shirts. Family tradition since 1994.

Kentucky: I was in Hopkinsville, KY with the 2 minutes 40 seconds. This is my second total eclipse. I also have 2 annual too. I projected the image from my old astroscan on a piece of foam core board. Great little telescope. The crowd got to see the sunspots.

Kentucky: I was in Dawson Springs, KY where totality was 2 minutes 32 seconds. This was my first total eclipse, and it was an amazing experience. Here are the photos. My two pictures of totality were not the best because I did not want to take the time to change the settings on my camera. One question: at the start and end of totality, I heard a sound similar to thunder or fireworks. Any idea what that was?

Kentucky:

Kentucky:

Kentucky: Great pictures from Hopkinsville, Kentukcy. The traffic was a nightmare from Hopkinsville to Cincinnati. Enjoy!

Kentucky:

Missouri: I was about 30 miles east and few miles south of you. The clouds cleared just in time. It was beautiful. One thing that really surprised me was how much light there was when the sun was almost totally eclipsed. Before totality, when there was just a small sliver of the sun visible, it was still pretty light. It was not until totality that is got “dark”. I assumed it was going to gradually get darker and darker leading up to totality. It did not work that way. Those of us that saw totality are likely making plans for the next one in the U.S. in 2024. Those that did not see totality really need to try to see it once. It is amazing and indescribable.

Illinois: We had teacher’s institute on Monday (students didn’t start til Wednesday). I convinced our principal to do an activity in the afternoon and we went outside as a staff. We are 180 miles north of Carbondale and experienced 90% coverage. I had eclipse glasses and pinhole viewers available, along with a telescope with solar filter. I also equiped our staff with UV bead braclets to observe changes in UV exposure. We were also able to experience the eclipse shadows caused by the light filtering through the trees. We had a blast and even got coverage in the local paper. The neatest part was seeing our staff really get into it. I’ll attach photos, but if you can’t get them they can also be viewed via our twitter account GRS_Science My brother was in Nashville and got to experience totality. He sent me photos a co-worker of his took and I was able to share those with my classes on Wednesday. I also had a few students that were able experience it first hand. My 3rd partial solar eclipse…never gets old!

Illinois:

Illinois:

Illinois:

Illinois:

Idaho: My daughter got a nice panorama of the 360° sunset. Photo by Kiana Duggan-Haas.

Idaho: I watched from a ridgetop just outside of Victor, Idaho with the Tetons in the background, at the Pine Creek Campground. Here’s a Google Street View Panorama of us and our site, taken before totality. I was with my two daughters (13 & 16) a couple of high school friends and their families, my cousin and her family, and another family who is friends with one of my high school buds and a few friends and family of these folks. Also on our ridgetop were another 15 or so people, including three planetary scientists from the USGS, a cinematographer and some others. Below are a few pics from our group. Our temperature change was substantial, though we didn’t have thermometers. I’d guess there was a swing of 20° F. We were at something like 8,000 feet in elevation. Totality was chilly, but brief. One thing that didn’t photograph well and I’ve not seen mentioned above are the shadow bands. They look something like the bands on the bottom of a pool on a sunny day and are caused by diffraction of the sun’s light when it’s just a sliver – immediately before and after totality. We’d laid down a white sheet to see them, and they were definitely there, I think wavering more quickly than the bands on the bottom of a pool. They were also pretty faint. I’ll note that the difference between totality and 98% of totality is quite impressive. I heard someone compare the difference to the difference between going 98% of the way to Disneyland vs. actually going to Disneyland. I’m not a Disney guy, so my analogy is that it’s like comparing getting 98% of the way to a climax to actually getting to a climax (you know, of your favorite book or whatever). The plans for this trip had been in the works since my first total solar eclipse viewed from the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula in 1991. More about that trip here (it’s my contribution to the My Earth Educator Story Project). One of the friends I saw that with was one of the high school friends who was with us this time – in fact, he was the lead organizer. I anxiously await my third eclipse when totality passes over my house on April 8, 2024. (Though April in Buffalo offers nothing like a guarantee of clear skies).

Idaho: I was at the base of Borah Pk, tallest mountain in Idaho near MacKay. We had an incredible total eclipse with clear skies. The temperature dropped 10 degrees, the birds were quiet and not flying. I was with a few friends but there was reported about 1000 people who started climbing Borah Peak around midnight! Attached are a few of my husband’s pictures.

Idaho:

Idaho: This is what it looked like, more or less, to my naked eye. Photo by Andy Frank.

Idaho: My first eclipse. We had a total of 2 minutes 2 seconds in Garden Valley Schools, Garden Valley, Idaho, Couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day. We also had Dr. Joe Llama from the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff talking us through what we were about to see. This is the one and only picture I took. It was amazing.

Georgia: Here is the temperature data recorded at a high school about 20 minutes north of Athens, GA We were at 99.7% totality.

            Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.

Teacher Eclipse Pictures Here is a collection of pictures and comments from Science Teacher members of the NSTA (National Science Teachers Association)

[dansnaturepictures]

18/08/2020-Another nice Lakeside walk and photos at home today 

I took the first picture in this photoset of the bush at the front of our house with some interesting berries on when I went out on my lunch time walk I did see some similar to them at Lakeside this summer as the continued turn towards autumn has been progressing. I then got to Lakeside, taking the second and third picture in this photoset. Along this path I saw loads of Jackdaws flying around me and sitting down I did take a photo which I tweeted as I walked along the path through the nature reserve fenced off area to the lakes. Along the path I saw the couple of/a few Stock Doves I’m getting excited about seeing close to home of late, a beautiful pigeon//dove species. I thought I saw one land in the nature reserve so I went in through the gate. I did see one fly off again. I was also very happy to see one of my favourite birds the Green Woodpecker in the nature reserve this very strong grassy meadow area for them for years flying quite close to me. So lovely to see one I do adore them. I took the fourth picture in this photoset of a lake when I got there. 

I then looked over the adjoining one again of course where the Great Crested Grebes chicks and parents are. I had brought my bridge camera today in case I wanted to zoom into them a bit more. I took the fifth picture in this photoset of a Mallard with a male with its eclipsed head again which was nice to see its been interesting to see them. In the end the Great Crested Grebe chicks which were very mobile following their fishing parents about came pretty close to where I was stood on the fishing jetty actually so I had a competition between my bridge and DSLR camera producing two pictures each of the chicks I tweeted the other three. The sixth picture in this photoset one I took with my DSLR camera. It was brilliant to see them diving again which I first noticed yesterday a key part of being the bird they are as I said up close. It was interesting that when you see an adult dive which is interesting you sort of don’t see a trace of it which makes it hard when you’re photographing them and trying to pick up where it will go. Its obviously completely natural. But with the chicks the shape of them just sort of stays or lingers near the top and as they’re learning they quite often pop back up. It was quite cute to see in a way. 

I took the seventh and eighth picture in this photoset of a view and a Woodpigeon by the entrance on the way home, and the ninth and tenth a lovely Jackdaw on the roof out the back a strong day of Jackdaws for me which I took with my bridge camera and orange flowers in the garden one of the main flowers I have photographed this year in a year like no other for this with an interesting tiny snail on it. This was a decent little photo session when home I must say propelling me into another high photo yield my Lakeside set was that little bit less today. It was another great day today I enjoyed being out and on a week that is definitely an unpredictable one for weather like yesterday I really made the most of the sun being out. I hope you all had a good day. 

Wildlife Sightings Summary: Two of my favourite birds the Green Woodpecker and Great Crested Grebe, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Black-headed Gull, Starling, House Sparrow, Goldfinch, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Stock Dove, and Large White butterfly there are a few of these about lately another population boom possibly or maybe its because at Lakeside not so as many other butterflies are around now so they stand out. 

[dansnaturepictures]

28th June 2020: Osprey and more at Fishlake Meadows and Titchfield Canal path 

This morning and into early afternoon we went to Fishlake Meadows in Romsey in search of the regular Osprey that had been there. I took the first, third and fifth pictures in this photoset of views here today. We got four great natural moments in a walk around the reserve, seeing Purple Loosestrife beside the canal my first time seeing it this year I took the second picture in this photoset of some at a different part of this reserve today, seeing a Blue-tailed Damselfly land right in front of my face on the wood at the viewing screen and hear a very loud Cetti’s Warbler calling beside us there which was great. Additionally as we walked back along the canal path I was thrilled to spot a massive Stag beetle making its way across the path onto grass I took the fourth picture in this photoset of that. This was the first time I had ever seen one of these and it looked surreal and extraordinary to see. They are really rare too. This was such a special moment for me what a brilliant surprise of something to see today. It’s one I have put on my updated beetle life list that I’ve started up again this year and certainly comes in the right year with me not only taking a greater interest in beetles this spring and summer but seeing some amazing ones like Swollen-thighed, Green Tiger and this added to them so well. I submitted my sighting just now into the Great Stag Hunt Stag beetle survey: https://ptes.org/campaigns/stag-beetles-2/ by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species. 

We found out to see the Osprey we’d have to go to a little viewing area beside the main road overlooking the reserve so we walked there. Looking over we were happy to see a Marsh Harrier and then a Red Kite alongside a lot of water birds. Then all of a sudden and it was remarkable to see it having an aerial fight with the similarly sized Red Kite the Osprey flew out! We marvelled at watching it in the air with the Marsh Harrier up at times too a special raptor fest with two of my favourite birds, and then the Osprey settled on the one of many dead trees here that it had been frequenting. It flew up again later but then perched in a different spot lower down the tree. I took the sixth and seventh pictures in this photoset record shots of it. We watched it for about half an hour, speaking to more great like-minded people this week at a distance of over two metres away about the Ospreys and general natural history topics which was great. 

It was a true honour to see an Osprey for so long here today, my fifth of the many year ticks this week I’ve got now great for this time of year that is one of my favourite birds. That means it’s my 22nd of my current list of 30 favourite birds that I have seen in 2020. After a surge in seeing them this spring into summer following a drought of favourite bird year ticks during lockdown that will probably be what a finish on. A pretty decent return considering of the eight of my favourite birds I have yet to see in 2020 - Puffin, Kittiwake, Chough and Dipper just aren’t geographically possible for me to see this year now not helped but the need to not do our Anglesey holiday of course this week due to the pandemic. And Golden Eagle, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Tawny Owl and Black Guillemot are among my favourites because I dreamt of seeing them and it was an amazing moment when I finally did so I accept I won’t see them every year. Furthermore I have seen eleven of the thirteen bird species on my B list of favourite birds this year with one of the other two a maybe and the other a probably not this year. 

This has the distinction of being my earliest ever Osprey sighting in a year as we normally see this bird at Rutland Water in August when we go for the Bird Fair with the exception of one year where we saw one somewhere else first. Obviously that has been cancelled in its physical form due to the pandemic this year. We had already cancelled the hotel we had booked but did toy with the idea with nights away currently possible from 4th July of finding somewhere to still go up I still have annual leave around that weekend and try to see the Ospreys. But now we have seen this one so well here I’m not sure we’ll need to but I don’t know that for definite. It is interesting this Osprey is said to be a Rutland born bird the place where this iconic species made its big population comeback to England with that amazing reintroduction programme so it’s still very much tapping into that inspirational story this year in the wake of what is probably gonna be my first year since 2007 not visiting Rutland in the summer. Seeing this Osprey meant its 13 years running I’ve seen an Osprey in now which without Rutland and none seen anywhere else would have been a record for me under threat.

It also interestingly makes Fishlake Meadows only the fifth location I have ever seen this very special bird for me at after Rutland Water (at most usually Lyndon but also sometimes Egleton bits the other reserve there), Porthmadog where we saw our first of 2016 that July, Arne looking into Poole harbour and Farlington Marshes into Langstone harbour. It was very important to see one at Fishlake Meadows for me as this one often visits and lingers here now it’s such a strong habitat for this bird we didn’t get to go here last year to see it. Fishlake Meadows is quite close to home really so this is excitingly the closest to home I have ever seen an Osprey a bird that has captivated and fascinated me since I first ever heard of them in my very early birdwatching days. So this all felt very great and I was happy. Fishlake Meadows continues to be a rising star of a nature reserve of an urban setting I am so impressed with how the Wildlife Trust run it and just the sheer biodiversity of birds and other creatures there are here as today showed well for me. I am very proud of this place. 

This afternoon we then did a walk with Missy and my Mum’s husband at the Titchfield canal path quite a similar habitat really. Here it was nice to end my week off seeing a decent selection of butterflies and a few species with mini swarms of them as the sun and some heat well and truly emerged as expected this afternoon after brief showers earlier on and other wildlife such as more House Martins over Posbrook flood and lovely bronze plumage looking Black-tailed Godwits there. I took the final three pictures in this photoset there two landscapes and some nice goats we came across in a field. 

Wildlife Sightings Summary: (Fishlake Meadows) My first Osprey of the year, my first ever Stag beetle, five more of my favourite birds the Buzzard, Red Kite, Pochard, Great Crested Grebe and Great White Egret flying in towards the end, one of my favourite butterflies the Red Admiral, Swift, Swallow, House Martin, Woodpigeon, Mallard, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Moorhen, Coot, Greylag Goose, Mute Swan, Marsh Harrier, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Large White, Blue-tailed Damselfly and I heard Cetti’s Warbler and Reed Warbler. (Titchfield Canal path) Two of my favourite butterflies the Large Skipper and Red Admiral, Comma, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Holly Blue and Meadow Brown it was those and the Commas that did a little bit of swarming, Blue-tailed Damselfly, House Martin, Swift, Oystercatcher, Black-tailed Godwit and Black-headed Gull. 

Well that is the end of my week off then. It was amazing. We packed in some of the best locations locally, regionally and nationally to walk whilst social distancing, take in breathtaking views, watch incredible wildlife and take so many photos each day with most of these places in surrounding counties to Hampshire so nice to get chances to go to them safely. The weather really was perfect for the week off with the amount of sunshine and soaring temperatures. Three of my year lists proportionally to what they are for me grew massively my bird, butterfly and mammal year list. I saw dragonflies, damselflies, flowers and more too. It was an unforgettable week with so much joy taken from it for me. I think supporting the wildlife seen and strong places visited it was just nice to be out for so much of the day in line with current restrictions each time. And when travelling and inside it was great to really have some quality family time and spot on moments of relaxation and doing things at a more gentle pace after working at home for three months so far. My feet may be looking forward to the usually 23+ hours inside whilst working from home a day tomorrow after all the exhausting walking we have done but mentally and physically this week was just what I needed and did a lot for me. Thank you for all your amazing support for my huge amounts of photos and long posts this week. Have a great new week all or as good as it can be.

[dansnaturepictures]

29/03/2021-Monday off: Part 1-Dog walk at Lakeside and home: The 10 pictures in this photoset different to those I tweeted tonight 

I had my second of three days annual leave today and like yesterday I took Missy out for a walk, which I did at Lakeside today where I obviously go every lunch time whilst working from home. On a certain route there I took some photos with my macro lens on my DSLR the only camera and lens I had with me for that walk alongside the binoculars as I needed to focus on walking her but there were some pictures in parts I had no intention of going at any other time today. It was a truly gorgeous day and it was perfect weather to have my macro lens with so many butterflies and flowers around two of its key subjects. Once finishing the walk I went out again by myself to Lakeside where I saw a lot and took many more photos. With nearly 70 produced I am putting some of my photos taken in Tumblr posts and not tweeting them to reduce the amount I tweeted tonight. So this has worked out with me doing three separate posts tonight, this one and two to follow all with 10 different photos to those I tweeted tonight. This post is the dog walk, the garden and some bits before I reached Lakeside the second time. Then my next post is with 10 different landscape and other pictures I took today and the final post with 10 different wildlife photos I took today and that post has more of the story of the day and the full wildlife sightings summary. 

I took the first two photos in this photoset showing how truly sunny and spring like it looked today out of my window, a great scene to enjoy whilst having another very relaxing morning which included a lay in and watching some of David Attenborough’s brilliant 2019 series ‘Seven Worlds, One Planet’ on BBC iPlayer as I saw that was repeated lately extremely relaxing and interesting viewing and more. 

Then I was itching to get out with Missy in brilliant conditions and as we walked over to Lakeside it was clear to see what a beautiful day it was with how sunny and very warm it was. It was so pleasant to be out, and I liked taking in the views of Lakeside with the water glistening as we walked it was perfect conditions really. I enjoyed hearing a Green Woodpecker as well. As I tweeted pictures of when we went into the woodland areas it was brimming with beautiful lesser celandine. It really was like a yellow and green sea and was so stunning to take in they are such beautiful flowers which I am having an amazing year for my best ever spring for now definitely with so many sightings lately especially in recent days. 

As we reached a path at the south of the site just north of the bordering University of Southampton sports fields a nice little hidden spot I’ve found before I had some more botanical bliss at this part when I saw the violets in the third and fourth pictures in this photoset a flower I saw at Lakeside late last month. I enjoyed taking them in. I also saw there a flower I did and didn’t recognise. Something like a snowdrop, but fairly late now and isolated compared to how they normally are seen together I thought. I took a picture of it as I tweeted on Dans_Pictures tonight and I just had in my head a flower I’d heard of and seen pictures of that was like a snowdrop but subtly different but I couldn’t think of its name. Until I got home and checked the PlantNet app and I was reminded it was a snowflake another lovely named flower. This is the first time I ever remember seeing one of these so I loved seeing and photographing something new its such a great feeling. It looked so bright and beautiful the white and green is such a lovely colour scheme and it stood out so nicely in the vast path side. 

We walked on and I was delighted to see Peacock and Brimstone butterfly at an area behind the steam railway station where I go a lot. I had seen a Brimstone just before getting into Lakeside it was so lovely to see these. When on the central path walking up towards the exit on the way home I liked seeing a Peacock really well again with it landing and I really got to see which was wonderful. A Kestrel dashed nicely over our head on the way out of Lakeside.

I had a brief photo session in the garden before going out again and I took the fifth and sixth pictures in this photoset of the white daffodils and a hanging basket in the back garden during this as well as the seventh picture in this photoset of a new daffodil in the front garden the first one to be in this garden I have seen which was great to see and looked very nice glowing in the sun. I then took the landscape in the eighth picture in this photoset it did look very beautiful out there. I took the tenth picture in this photoset then too. On the way out to Lakeside with Missy I had noticed a striking group of lesser celandine on the green out the front they looked really special as well so I was desperate to take a picture of them and I did on the second Lakeside outing with the ninth picture in this photoset. I shall do the next two blogs of my day shortly. 

[coolcancunyachts]

Examining Nature in Mexico is an Unforgettable Adventure

After spending many vacations in Cancun, Mexico, I decided to take the plunge and move there to study the beautiful nature I'd admired in my previous trips. Having lived many years in the comfort and safety of American suburbia, it was time for some adventure. After learning Spanish, I went to the Yucatan and rented a home in suburban Playa del Carmen, and hired myself a maid. Then, with help from hired guides and friends, I visited a variety of remote places in the Mexican jungles. It was an unforgettable experience to see a variety of animals in their natural habitats.

The ever-growing city of Playa del Carmen is an hour south of Cancun and easily accessed by public buses. Both cities are on the Caribbean Sea, where coral reefs abound up and down the coastline. The beauty of pure white, limestone sand, and richly colored, turquoise water of the ocean drew me down there. Being a nature artist, I was fascinated by the plants and animals of the region. Armed with my cameras, drawing paper, and pens, I got to work drawing and photographing bugs, birds, plants, and anything else exotic. Soon, my artwork landed me a job as the main illustrator for a large nature park called Xcaret.

Whenever I had a drawing to deliver to my employer, I would board the employee bus for Xcaret, and then walk down a long, back jungle path next to the park to the office. These walks fascinated me, the path was directly next to fenced enclosures for their zoo and aviary. Flamingoes, spider monkeys, and a harpy eagle were animals I could see the best from the path. One time I made the mistake of giving one of the monkeys a cookie, only to see the other monkeys chase after him to steal it, trying to beat him up! I quickly got out a couple more cookies and gave the rest to them, to avoid the original monkey from getting hurt. They all sat there munching peacefully as I snuck off, hoping nobody saw.

In Mexico, you will see iguanas in nature frequently. As I walked down the nature path on my way to work, there was a rustling in the big tree near me. I looked up only to see a large, 6-foot green iguana male with bright orange fringe on his back, in the canopy of the tree. He looked down at me. I remember people telling me that iguanas are good eating, taste like chicken, and that they are called "chicken of the tree". I never found out if that was true or not, but then, I wasn't about to go eating iguanas. Nope, I'm not that adventurous in my dining choices. Black iguanas can be seen usually sitting one per rock pile. Everywhere there were rocks, were male iguanas sunning themselves. Interesting creatures. In Chankanaab Park (on the island of Cozumel) there is a huge iguana that walks around public areas, oblivious to the humans that walk past it. It will bite if petted, the park employee told me. So, I took photos of it and kept my distance.

Another lizard that was interesting and plentiful, was Basiliscus Basiliscus, the basilisk. There are a few varieties of basilisk to be found in Mexico. It can run on water if it gets scared enough, and I witnessed it after scaring one unintentionally. Later, I found a smaller one and drew it for my job, they have intense eyes, looking very serious. When I was finished drawing him, he ran upright into the jungle, glad to be free of the big, scary human with whom he'd spent a few hours with.

The jungles of Mexico are fascinating, but I would never recommend walking off your path into one. First off, the foliage is very dense. Second, there are critters in there that can hurt you if provoked, namely scorpions, snakes, and spiders. Look, but don't touch. I have seen all of these, and have paid people to remove them from my home. Scorpions will come after you if they are agitated. Back away quickly, wherever they cannot follow. The lighter-colored ones, I was told, are more dangerous than the black ones. There are tarantulas in Mexico, and they are big but not aggressive thank goodness. I had a red-kneed tarantula taken away from the front of my door once. My maid used to throw out other spiders she found inside, and laugh when I would be freaked out by them. "This? It's harmless!" she'd tell me. Yuck. I took her word for it.

As for snakes, there are a few that are reason enough not to go walking alone in the jungle. First, there are huge boa constrictors. My ex-husband was called by the ladies next door, to remove a 6-foot boa out of their rental flat. They said it just slithered into the open back door. Lesson learned, never leave an open door to your house if you live close to the jungle. Then, there is a crimson-colored snake the locals called Coralio. I don't know its scientific name, but it was beautiful but deadly. A man who lived near me had a whole apartment full of snakes, and he showed them to me up close. Snakes are interesting but it pays to watch where you step since my ex and I nearly stepped on one during an evening walk. There are other snakes to watch out for, but these are the kinds that we saw. All snakes will mind their own business if unprovoked, it seems, trouble seems to be when humans aren't paying attention and step on one by mistake. So, it pays to watch where you walk.

Then there were the amazing birds. With a gorgeous variety of colors, shapes, and sizes, birds in Mexico are exotic and fascinating. My favorites were the toco toucan, motmot, curassows, Yucatan jay, cinnamon-colored cuckoo, and pileated woodpecker, and violaceous trogon (a relative of the resplendent quetzal). They had a knack for showing themselves whenever I didn't have my camera with me. I did draw and take notes of what I saw, then look them up later. There was a bird that was so colorful that locals called it, "siete colores" (seven colors). After looking it up, I identified it as a painted bunting. Another bird locals call "echo Amarillo"(yellow breast), otherwise known as the great kiskadee, used to sit outside my window and yell, "Eeee, Eeee!" at the top of his lungs. We used to call back at him, and he'd answer. Very funny bird.

In Playa del Carmen, there is an outdoor aviary, built into the jungle, in the Playacar section. I went in there and walked around, to see the different birds that usually are hidden by the jungle. One bird took a fancy to me, barred curassow who followed me everywhere. She was my feathered tour guide and posed for photos freely. I finally got to see a chachalaca up close, a relative to a turkey, that is shy, loud (its call sounds like a rusty meat grinder), and travels in groups. Also, there were red ibis, more flamingos, egrets, and much more. The aviary is a must-see if you visit Playacar.

Another interesting natural sector in the Yucatan was all the bugs. Insects of every kind, in great quantities. I could've done without all the mosquitoes, though, thank goodness for bug repellent. My favorites were the butterflies. Sometimes when driving down remote roads, we came across undulating masses of various butterflies colored yellow, white, or black. Monarch butterflies also migrate in large groups down to Mexico, I saw them once, too. The most beautiful butterfly I came across in the wild, in my opinion, was the morpho butterfly. It has large iridescent blue wings, wasn't as common as other butterflies, and preferred the privacy of non-populated areas like fields and jungles. There was another butterfly that was big, brown and with its wings closed, was the size of a large dinner plate. It was called an owl butterfly and flew slowly. I got really close to him and he seemed unafraid. He had patterns on his wings that were like numbers. Fascinating.

Beetles. Ahh, beetles..not very graceful, and apparently not all that bright, but endearing with their less than graceful antics. There were golden scarab beetles that used to fly into my window as I was working, frequently. They usually landed on their backs with their feet flailing helplessly in the air. Eventually, the situation would rely on me turning them right-side-up, some would then fly off, others would somehow end up on their backs again. It was odd, but I took the opportunity to draw these metallically colored insects, who looked as if they were gilded in brushed gold.

Grasshoppers and katydids are in large quantity in the jungles of the Yucatan. There are so many varieties of grasshoppers, I lost count. As for katydids. their bodies are gigantic, the size of a sparrow. I caught one, to draw him, then when I let him go off my balcony, he flew away in a straight path. His big, green body was visible for a very long time as he flapped off into the sunset, it was surreal.

Sea creatures and fish are plentiful in the Caribbean Sea. Though the reefs are endangered and show signs of damage, they are still beautiful. Every day, I'd snorkel in the low-traffic area near my home. It was serene to get to the beach early in the morning, pick up a few shells that washed up on shore, then make my spot on the beach. I'd snorkel until my body got cold, every day. There weren't many large predators in the areas I swam in, due to the broken walls that run up and down the coast, separating the shores from the deeper, ocean water. Once in a while, a barracuda would find its way into the reef area, my, what big teeth they have. Out there, you can see dolphins playing in the waves made by large yachts or ferries. Bottle-nosed dolphins are very social creatures and seem unafraid of humans. Some of the most memorable smaller fish and creatures I saw were brittle starfish (they live under rocks and will climb off your hand quickly if you try to hold one), octopus, conch, sea turtles, moray eels, blue tangs, and of course, those feisty damselfish. Though I haven't gotten my scuba license, I went on a few professional scuba tours where the water was so shallow, snorkeling was possible. Tours are great for finding gorgeous coral gardens that aren't visible to everyone else. The prettiest ones I saw were near the town of Puerto Morelos.

Other places I liked to explore were the Cenotes Azul, and Dos Ojos. Cenotes are brackish water natural bodies of water that the Mayan Indians used to build their villages around. Now, they sit in the jungle and tourists enter them to go cave diving. Underneath the Yucatan is an elaborate network of caves that attract cave-divers from all over the world. Not me, I preferred just swimming in the crystal clear water in the mouth of the cenotes and observing the fish I saw. One of the cenotes had fish that I'd seen in pet stores back in the US, swimming there naturally. Jack Dempsey fish and green sailfin mollies, along with a kind of livebearer fish I didn't recognize. They were very colorful, and the Dempseys, being combative cichlids who like to pick on one another, had tattered fins. But, all the fish were very healthy. What a wonder it is to swim among them in their natural habitat. The nature around cenotes is interesting, too. I saw a basilisk run across the water when I swam too close to him, and a duck that would dive for fish and stay underwater for a long time. Nature abounds in and around cenotes.

The nature of Mexico is plentiful and beautiful in all its forms. The tropical, hot climate brings out flora and fauna, unlike anything I've ever seen in my home state of Ohio, or even in my current state of Florida. Living among the lush jungles, hearing jungle frogs sing at night, and spending time with my wonderful Mexican co-workers, guides and friends changed my life. By being respectful of nature (look, don't touch) and watching where you walk, you will see clouds of butterflies, brilliantly colored birds, and animals like coatimundis, agoutis, and others normally only seen in zoos. My employer promoted the preservation of Mexico's wildlife, and it was my honor to do artwork of all things natural for them. I miss walking the jungle path to their office weekly and seeing the zoo animals, as well as the wild ones in the trees. If you love nature, make sure to visit Mexico and go on tours to see the beauty of the wild, but with professionals who know where to take you. It will be an experience you will appreciate and remember forever.

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[dansnaturepictures]

6/1/18-Blashford Lakes 

After another successful New Year’s Day of seeing birds and a morning and lunch break year tick during my first week of my new job, I was itching to get out and see some birds seriously again today and due to desires and weather forecasts there was only one place I wanted to head to. This is a reserve that I’ll have been visiting 10 years in February and I had an incredible year there last year, Hampshire & Isles of Wight Wildlife Trust’s Blashford Lakes. Its really a key destination for the continuation of foundation building of year lists as its habitat diversity allows such a range of species to be seen. Sure enough between coming here today and a quick drive around the fields at nearby Harbridge I got 19 more year ticks, meaning my year list currently sits at 57. 

I was aiming to get to 50 by the end of this weekend so I have already overachieved even if practically I maybe set that bar a little low. Blashford today allowed me to see a lot of what I call clean up year ticks so things I might have perhaps seen easily already but hadn’t which I did see and some really classy birds seen for the first time this year too. All coming together to be a massive number of birds seen for the first time this year today which I really enjoy and make the most of as it doesn’t really last long that happening. I will mention all of what I saw for the first time this year in the Harbridge fields now and not include them in the Wildlife Sightings Summary as I didn’t really get out of the car, but with the Blashford year ticks I will skim over with highlights telling the story of today but include all 12 in my Wildlife Sightings Summary. 

So just before reaching Harbridge a Buzzard beautifully soaring was a welcome sight as I had tried all journey to look for this one of my favourite birds. Next it was a Little Grebe on the river, followed by Greylag Geese in a field and Rooks. A few Egyptian Geese in a field was one of the things I suggested a quick pre Blashford Harbridge call in for and they were perhaps the highlight of it. A Cormorant and other of my favourite birds the Little Egret flying over would tie up a nice seven year ticks before even getting into Blashford. 

When there I first went to the Tern hide were seeing my crucial first Goldeneye of 2018 and loads of Lesser Black Backed Gulls stood out from the three year ticks I got from this hide. I say crucial as there’s not many places I can see Goldeneyes as easily as here so not seeing them here could lead to a bit of a wait/struggle to see them in a year like in 2013 when they were my bogey bird. When leaving the Tern hide I took the first two pictures in this photoset of the sky and a Robin. I then went to Ivy North hide, round to the centre to use the facilities getting a further three year ticks as I detail below, the Shoveler my milestone 50th bird of 2018. At the Ivy South Hide I caught sight of my first Pintail of the year, a bird I’d seen here only once before and am more used to seeing on the coast so that was impressive. A Common Gull was also out on the water, as I’ve said so many times a bird I always find satisfying to see and one I do well at identifying within my family. I don’t think I’d quite seen one this early in a year before so I was very happy with this.

Four more year ticks would prove to be waiting for me, two on route to the Woodland hide from Ivy South, one in Woodland and one when walking along the path after it. It was that second one on route that was the star bird today and this year so far. I just caught sight of an egret on the water in a gap between the trees and I knew the Great White was about. It flew as soon as I got the binoculars on it desperate to see the colour of its beak to identify it and thankfully it would land again facing me and I made out the orange beak of the Great White. This is a really amazing bird to see always and I didn’t see one until the summer at the Bird Fair at Rutland Water in 2016 and 2017 being a key target throughout the first eight months of last year. This beats common relative Grey Heron onto my year list which always entertains me as I say and seeing this bird left me in a great mood. 

As I moved out of the Woodland hide I would pass Ivy North again. My Mum’s husband had been in Ivy South hide when I left. The Great White Egret after I first saw it today flew and I thought to myself I bet it flies in view of one of the Ivy hides. When he caught me up in Woodland my Mum’s husband didn’t say the Great White Egret had come into his view at Ivy South when I mentioned it to him. So when passing Ivy North I knew there was a good chance I could see this bird in front of the hide like I had done before and I got in there and there it was. I managed the record shot modest as it was dark at this point and through glass in the third picture in this photoset of the famous bird named Walter the UK’s oldest Great White Egret one of Blashford’s greatest ever birds. Before leaving I took the fourth picture in this photoset of a sunset behind the trees. 

Wildlife Sightings Summary: My first Wigeon, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Goldeneye, Gadwall, Shoveler, Greenfinch, Pintail, Common Gull, Long-tailed Tit, Great White Egret, Dunnock and Song Thrush of the year, three of my favourite birds the Jay, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Buzzard, Coot, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Goosander, Little Grebe, Cormorant, Herring Gull, Black-headed Gull, Nuthatch, Robin, Blackbird, Woodpigeon and Magpie.