Woodland Friends

Yesterday, I decided rather late in the day that I would take a three-mile walk.  I knew I needed the exercise, and I wasn't in the mood to do any of my "Turbo Jam" or "Slim in 6" work-outs.  It was about 4:45 p.m. when I set out on the most lovely fall day, the kind of day that makes me happy to be alive and happy that I live in New England.  It was sunny with a light breeze, just cool enough for a lightweight fleece jacket.  Perfect fall weather.

Our house is on one of a series of cul de sac streets located in a densely wooded area just outside the downtown area of our small city.  When I'm at home, I feel as if we live out in the country; yet we are just a hop, skip, and a jump from shopping, church, schools, etc.  It's absolutely the most perfect place in the world to live...that is, it would be if we had a lake out back.  But just beyond our large, grassy back yard there are beautiful, thick woods--still chock full of white-tailed deer, even though the numerous residential developments that have sprung up in the last twenty years have put a kibosh on all the deer hunting that used to go on in them.

As I was walking along a quiet neighborhood street not far from ours, I came upon a couple of deer, just hanging out right in someone's front yard.  I would have liked to get closer to get a better shot of them with my trusty, ever-at-the-ready iPhone camera, but I didn't want to scare them off.  So I snapped this long-distance photo of my little woodland friends.

I love where we live.  The Northeast is the best section of the United States, in my unbiased opinion.

This morning, my husband and I are heading to the airport way before the crack of dawn (at "0-dark-thirty," as they like to say in the Navy).  We're flying out to Notre Dame to visit our youngest son, attend a Saturday pre-football game tailgater with all of my husband's siblings and assorted other Pearl family members, and watch the Fighting Irish beat Michigan (fingers crossed) on Saturday night.

I'm generally not a big fan of the landscape in the Midwest; it's sure not as awe-inspiring as what I'm used to here. But Notre Dame does have some pretty awesome landmarks that lend the campus an ethereal beauty that's hard to find anywhere else, I must say: the spire of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and the gleaming Golden Dome with a statue of Mary on top, to name two.  And the grotto, a replica of the one at Lourdes, behind the basilica.  Yes, the grotto, of course.  And the two small lakes, St. Mary's Lake and St. Joseph's Lake.  And...wow, I could go on and on!

You know what?  I think I'm going to survive my time out in the Midwest just fine!  And while I've never come across any deer during my strolls around the Notre Dame grounds, I've certainly seen more than my fair share of much-too-friendly squirrels!  Maybe I'll try to snap some shots of those little woodland friends in the coming days.