Eclectic Echoes

“It was a beautiful day today!”

That was Johann’s summary of the day, and Tammy and I could not help but agree. Tammy got in a few hours of knitting this morning, I managed (with great help from Tammy) to get up in time to catch today’s stage of the Tour during the live broadcast. Johann woke up in time to catch the last half of it as well. After the Tour (and breakfast) we did some playing inside, a bit of “school” and lunch while Tammy did some sewing. By mid afternoon we were ready to head out for a bike ride.

Actually only Johann rode his bike, Tammy and I walked with (well, often far behind) him and ran along beside him. We explored all the quiet streets on the Stonington side of the river. We stayed South of Main street, but even so we covered quite a bit of territory. All along the way Johann would stop to watch a variety of birds, naming them off as he spotted them. Most were songbirds but as we neared two of the marinas south of the railroad tracks we began seeing a few more water fowl and a Great Egret.

This was great for all of us as it was by far Johann’s longest excursion on the bicycle covering a variety of terrain and situations new to him on the bike, for Tammy and I it was a nice two hour walk (with bits of jogging thrown in!). It also was a great way for us to explore parts of Mystic that (I am somewhat ashamed to say) we have so far neglected to check out. It has added two sites to my list of spots to try for shooting local wildlife — two spots that are easy walking distance and of a different micro-ecology than my walking route up the estuary. These two are tidal marsh flats where the route further up the estuary is more fresh water with rocky shores with some reed and grass flats.

After darkness fell we headed out to light some sparklers that one of Tammy’s friends gave us. We heard a few fireworks, so decided to head down to the estuary banks at the art center. There we had a great seat to watch the fireworks of Fishers Island across the sound (map). True to himself, Johann was just as interested in the half dozen fireflies out as he was in the fireworks. He enjoyed the dual show put on by Fishers Island and nature. Afterward we headed back to the courtyard to light the sparklers.

A quiet day…a beautiful day.