Evening Walks...

I've been making an effort to get out and enjoy the Fall weather by taking evening strolls around the condo compound here. In the time I've been in Savannah (since the end of last November) I hadn't really done any exploring of my immediate surroundings, so I figured it was high time. The Bull River Bluff condos (which I'm in) are one of several that are kind of clustered together. We've got a river right behind us that is a mud flat when the tide isn't in, and I've discovered that opposite us is a wide marshland with a river running through it. Birds of various kinds (white herons and the like) hang out, and a dock with several fishing boats can be seen near the Tybee Island bridge that crosses the marsh. Interesting what you can find when you get your butt out there. Anyway, I started my evening excursions last night and have been snapping some photos along the way. I'm also using the walks as a creative outlet. I'm new at the whole photography deal, but I'm trying to frame them well. Figure they'll get better with time...once I get my sea legs.

Yesterday (Sunday) evening I felt the urge to go for a walk and snap some pictures. Mostly for my blog here. (Now that my dear friend, Pam (hee hee), signed me up on the Facebook blog network, I feel the need to finally keep up better with my entries. When I initially created this blog it was to help me get my writing juices flowing more freely. Was kind of waiting for something to get me motivated, and it appears that she was it. Thanks, Pam...) But, I must say that taking walks this time of year has always been one of my favorite things. So, I tied my tennies, put on my jacket, grabbed Glenn's camera, and scooted out the back porch.

It was cool out, but just the right amount of cool. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 degrees, I would guess. Was very relieved to find that the gigantic spider web strung across the bluff area between the treeline and the screened in porch was on the side of the doorway trellis opposite of the direction I wanted to go. I have yet to see the spider that spun the web, but I'm assuming it to be on the big side. I had been meaning to take a picture of one of the roses on our bush back there, so I took the opportunity to get one while the blooms were still in decent shape. (I had made the mistake of waiting when we had blooms before and a frog strangler of a rainstorm hit and blasted most of the petals off.) It was a bit overcast, so the evening 'energy' was just perfect. Walking along the back bluff here is really nice...spanish moss covering all of the trees, and a slight crisp breeze. Oh...don't think I mentioned it, but the slideshow above kind of follows the course of my walk(s)...

I walked down to the end of the bank by a small cul de sac where the remnants of an old dock are. It's definitely seen better days. Plans are in the works to build a new dock. The condos would get their own private entrance as part of the deal (currently we share an entrance with three or four other condos) and residents would be able to buy a slip if they wished. It sounds pretty good. You don't have to buy a slip (they're only for residents - no outside sales), your condo dues won't go up a penny, and your condo will increase in value. What's not to like? Management is moving forward with getting the necessary licenses. We'll see what happens.

Walking past the dock, the bank curves around behind the condos facing us and it's a completely different scene. Marshland. Look across that and you'll see Tybee Island, a popular tourist spot. (Glenn and I were taking a drive one day and ventured over there...we passed some very touristy chachka shops. I fully intend on going back to see what sort of tacky crap they have.) The light level was slightly brighter over there, and the clouds were really amazing. Cat tails were still present, but most of them were in varying stages of 'poofiness'...don't know if they go to seed, or they just disintegrate...they were just 'poofy'. Kind of like when we would blow on Dandelions as kids...that kind of poofy. Palm trees, marsh birds, and a number of bushes I don't know the name of. (The feathery appendages can be seen in a couple of the pictures above of the clouds and marsh area.) It's so beautiful over there. So relaxing. I continued walking down the bank snapping away and came upon something else I didn't know existed...a small pond. The only wild life I saw were two mallards. They saw me and made a bee-line in my direction. Think they thought I had some snacks for them...expect the residents over there like to pamper their little friends. Once they figured out that I wasn't going to be producing anything for them to eat, they just kind of stayed bobbing on the surface next to the bank preening their feathers. The breeze that was ever present seemed to gain a bit of velocity over the water and it was making it difficult to get a decent shot of the ducks, but I managed to get one I'm fairly happy with.

One of the things I love about Autumn are the colored leaves. It was when I was by the pond that I took notice of some leaves scattered on the ground...bright yellow with speckled designs of various colors. Really beautiful. Started scanning around and picking up colored leaves as my trajectory headed back up to people and asphalt parking lots. Interestingly enough, there weren't any people around really. (Not that I minded.) So I'm walking along the sidewalk looking for leaves and this fuzzy ball of white and orange pops out at me. An extremely affectionate cat I'll call "Krusty". I call him Krusty because he had some 'crust' on his nose. He was also a little boney and his fur wasn't the thickest. He reared back on his haunches purring like a lawnmower and hopped up and down in a "PET ME! PET ME" fashion. So...I pet him. Like I said, he was a really friendly little guy. Didn't have a collar on, so I don't know if he was owned by anyone or was one of the domesticated cats who had fallen in with the feral cats that run rampant over here. Anyway, I continued looking for leaves (Magnolia mostly), and Krusty shadowed me for a good ways. He'd mew at me occassionally so I'd acknowledge his presence and give him a good rub, but for the most part he just kind of followed along seeming to be interested in whatever I happened to be doing. Eventually a sinewy grey cat popped out at us and Krusty ventured off with him. Guess they knew each other. By that point, I could see across the way to home and headed back. There's kind of an open grassy area between the two banks of condos, and some kids were wrestling around like kids do. They were really the only other lifeforms around, and their laughter played across the space. As I crossed towards home, I added some pine cones to my collection. When I walked through the porch screen and into the kitchen, I felt more relaxed than I had in awhile. Even when you don't consciously feel stress, underlying stress can effect one even more profoundly. That has been my experience anyway. My first walk ended, I made myself a hot cup of cocoa and kicked off my shoes. Time to check my e-mail and get the meat loaf started.

Today I embarked on evening walk number 2. I wasn't preoccupied by it's inevitability, but I was looking forward to it throughout the day. This time I headed up the river bank in the opposite direction. I must say that the spider web was a concern of mine, so I exited through the front door this time. As I was walking up the front walk towards the parked cars, I heard a young voice say, "Shoot my butt!", and looked up just in time to see a big frizzy haired boy shoot a shorter and seemingly younger boy in the butt with what appeared to be a toy gun. Who knows, they were boys. Maybe it was a pellet gun. They were close enough for me to see it was a small handgun sized gun of some sort, but far enough away for me to not register any of its finer details. Shaking my head in a 'boys will be boys' kind of manner, I headed past our neighbor Anthony's place and walked between the buildings to the river bank. I encountered three more young folk. Three young girls who were creeping along in an effort to avoid detection by...someone. They looked at me, so of course I said, "HI!" They loooked like they had received electric shocks as they all jumped in an 'OH NO' fashion. I made an 'OH! I'm sorry' face, snickering internally. The girls skittered off (hopefully undetected?) and I headed back to the river bank, which at that time should be referred to as a 'mud flat' bank...cause that's what it was. I had my scanners on scoping for multiple items...photo ops, leaves, pine cones, and anything else of moderate interest. Shots of trees, reeds, and mud were aplenty. Finding something relatively artistic or interesting to shoot was a hard one. (I did take quite a few shots that fell victim to my 'delete' key after closer scrutiny.) Walking along, enjoying the air, the quiet...I happened across a collection of rocks. All very close to each other, same relative shape and size. No idea what they were doing there or what their original intent was. I decided that they would be known as the "Blair Witch Stones" and took a few shots. Hey it's October...humor me...

By this point, I'm nearing the end of the river bed and it gets rather beucolic. Palm trees, reeds, pine trees, various vines, tons of spanish moss, old cat tails, and hidden underneath it all...mud. I also reach the end of this line of condo buildings. Past the last unit, there is a stand of trees, a small forest section if you will, that continues past the guest parking area to an electricity station/transformer. Skirting the edge of these woods, I notice something that can only be the head of a trail. To someone passing quickly by, it would probably be undetectable. Scanning for possible photos like I was, I saw it immediately. But then I had traversed many trails like this in my youth. Stomping around in the woods with my friends was a regular activity when I was in elementary and high school. My friends and I built many a fort in the woods. Anyway, it was a very lightly formed trail. I merely took notice and continued down the tree line. After about twenty more feet, I encountered another trail. This one looked to be a bit more traveled. Peering through its mouth, I saw a wood structure that looked kind of like a bench. I decided to explore this path a little more closely. I stepped into its mouth. Upon closer inspection, I really don't know what that wood thing was. I got a really poor picture of it, at any rate (see above). I wandered in a little farther and could see a distinct path continue on into the wooded area. I was digging this and a large part of me wanted to keep going, but being the older more practically minded person that I am, I decided to head home. It was the evening and it would be getting darker soon, I didn't have appropriate footware on for slogging through the woods (my suede Converse), it would be better if I wasn't by myself - who knew what was back there? It's just a trail that is probably traversed on a regular basis by a number of kids/teenagers year round, but at that moment it was a portal to the unknown and it felt mysterious and...I plan to go back. I have dubbed it "Stephen King Trail" (after a trail at GA. Southern during my college days that took on a creepy nature after dark). Seems appropriate given the time of year and the impending holiday of All Hallows.

I decided to call it an evening, and head back the way I came. I'm moving a bit quicker, but still manage to find some neat leaves that I didn't detect on my first pass, as well as a few more pine cones. Some Spanish Moss finds its way into my collection, too. (I do have a purpose for gathering all of these things...more to come.) I reach home filled with calm yet again. A hot shower, hot cocoa, and a fulfilling blog entry. Can't get much better than that.