God's Beauties

Last weekend, we spent the weekend at a church retreat. I always like...no, make that LOVE...this retreat, because for $120, we camp and eat. No cooking!!!! The food is always varied and delicious, too :-)

So anyways, I walked around the lake on the boardwalk every single day that we were there (in addition to back and forth to the camper zillions of times a day, plus riding my bike around!) Sunday morning dh walked with me, and we were blessed with a real NATURE walk. First, we came around a bend, and there was a doe 15 feet ahead of us. We stood and watched each other, and she finally crossed over the boardwalk and into a more brushy area where she watched us slowly pass by. Guess there were some good eats and she wasn't going to leave them! Then, further down the boardwalk, we encountered a hummingbird. Now I don't know about you, but I love hummingbirds. They're just so cute and tiny and active. This one was definitely active! So active that I'm not sure she knew we were there. She was enjoying the purple thistle flowers clustered next to the boardwalk. It was neat seeing her circle each flower, then flit to the next flower and circle it. Then she found a stand of wild snapdragons. She buzzed several before she found one that was full of nectar. Then she quazi-perched on a blade of grass as she drank and drank and drank from the snapdragon flower. She finally got her fill and went up into a pine tree for a bit of a rest. We probably stood watching her for 5 minutes before we finally moved on. My dh even commented that we'd had a REAL nature walk ;-)