Brunch with nature

I drove out to Dawson Lake and ate my egg and cheese bagel this morning. It is my kind of nostalgia. I've been going there for over forty years, mostly with my children in tow to swim or hike, or just play. It's one of the few places I know where there is no hum of traffic at any distance and everything you hear is softly soothing -- except sometimes the voice of adult humans.

I parked at a fishing overlook for a while and just sat there watching. I saw a very old person at the edge of the lake fishing. I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, but it was a pleasant looking human who was very intent on what s/he was doing. There were  four poles sticking up out of a five gallon plastic bucket and one big on in his/her hands. I mean really big, like maybe for catching marlin!  I don't know what all is in this lake, but I don't want to see anything that big come out of it!

Two older people pulled up in their SUV and got out with cameras boasting big fancy lenses. They talked loudly about all the lenses they had in the cars, opened and closed the car doors a hundred times, took pictures of the distant lake and then the bark of the Pin Oak right in front of them, barely taking a breath long enough to push the buttons of their cameras.

While they did this a gorgeous black and white heron flew right in front of us and landed in the cattails nearby. There was an air show over the water as a swallow swooped and dove after some big insect it was trying to catch. This went on for several minutes and was fascinating to watch.

And the people  missed all of it talking about how many lenses they had and what they were.

Eventually they moved on and so did I. I drove through the old swimming beach and came out just as a squirrel ran out on the road. I waited since there was no traffic and of course the squirrel waited too. Finally I decided to try to drive around it in the direction it had come from. The squirrel immediately darted back that way and disappeared under my car! If I hadn't been going so slow I would have killed the squirrelly thing, but he lived to torment another squirrel lover.

Rounding  the corner to Honkers Beach I found baby geese in all stages of growth from downy infants to almost grown goslings and also a gorgeous red winged blackbird sitting there backlighted by the water and trees.

Leaving the park I saw a beautiful doe, her big brown eyes seemingly unafraid of me as she stood there in the grass watching me watching her.

I can't think of a finer place to go for brunch.