A Walk in the Woods (by the Lake)

Acting on a tip from a friend, I headed out to Nimisila Reservoir yesterday hoping to see a Bald Eagle she had seen on Sunday.  She had given me a link to an on-line map and then described in great detail the precise location where she’d spotted it.  I had no trouble spotting the nest—the tree was exactly as she had described. 
A local fisherman was there, and spotting my camera, he asked “Looking for the eagle, huh?”  I affirmed that I was to which he replied that he hadn’t seen it all day, but he had seen it there for a couple days in a row over the weekend.  You might think I was disappointed, and I suppose I was for a moment.  But this place is less than fifteen minutes from my home, so my next thought was, “No problem, I’ll come back tomorrow or the next day. Or maybe both days.” 
So as not to waste this lovely afternoon (that was supposed to be rainy, but wasn’t), I walked along some of the leaf-covered paths left by those who’d come to this wooded shoreline before.  I watched some Canada geese, a pair of shy mallards, listened to the frogs, and enjoyed the moist spring air.

I walked right into a couple of spider webs and remembered the very first time that ever happened to me.  Oddly enough it was in this very same area on the other side of Comet Lake, where my brother and I would play for hours in the woods.  Even when he ran ahead of me, I still ended up running into the spider webs.  Maybe he just ran so fast that he didn’t notice the sticky tickling strands on his nose.  That sensation is still enough to make me stop and wipe frantically at my face.  It takes a few minutes for me to stop thinking there must be a spider crawling on the top of my head, but something always captures my attention and causes me to forget.
Yesterday, it was skunk cabbages and striped wintergreen and duckweed. 

We had buckets of rain fall last night, so I’ll be standing on the paved parking lot today.  And if I get to see that eagle, you can be sure I will be writing about it later.