On Saturday we took a nice walk to a small restaurant called Fink's. It's right at the end of the street we're moving to. I'm happy to say that we enjoyed the food, and the "local feel" of the place. I have a feeling there will be at least one of two mornings/month spent there! On the walk back I dropped by the Grumpy Troll for our weekly growler of their Baltic Porter. When I walked up to the bar, I asked, "so you guys make this particular porter all year round?" I was told that no, it's a special brew that takes 6 months to make. As the bartender rang up my purchase, my growler under the tap, we saw something that almost brought me to tears. The LAST of the porter only filled my growler half way! He handed me back my money, the half full growler, and told me THAT WAS IT! I choked back sobs as I met Teri & Freja in the book store and told my wife the news! The real kick in the pants was by the time we walked home, the half full growler had made the beer go flat. Thank goodness I'd picked up some of Tommy's Porter made by Lake Louie the night before!
The rest of that day was spent preparing food for the next day. I carefully prepared a leg of lamb, cubing it, and then marinating it in olive oil, garlic, fresh parsley, salt & pepper, etc. I also made a tabouleh salad, all for Sunday's dinner. As I worked I enjoyed my beer, and watched out the back door for the finches to show up. They'd arrived a few days ago with the warmer weather. I wanted to try to get a shot of them, and was rewarded for my patience. The male actually put on a display towards his mate, which I was able to capture.
Sunday I was able to go adventure on my own while Freja and Teri spent time together in town. About 20 minutes from where we live there are a series of small trout streams that meander through hilly terrain. I found an access parking area and enjoyed a nice, long stroll. While there were plenty of birds, I didn't get a shot at any of them. I then drove around a bit, finding other access points the streams, and natural areas. I even met a fly fisherman who shared some great information with me on the lay of the land. These are areas I plan on getting to know very well as time goes by. Instead of fishing these streams, I plan on wade/walking them in order to take photos of wildlife/nature.
I found a number of cool places for me to explore in the future, but I wasn't finding any wildlife to shoot. I could hear birds, frogs and insects all around me, but wasn't getting a chance to snap a photo. At one point I stopped on a dusty road to take the photo of the rock formation you see above. As I turned to get back in the jeep I spotted the eagle you see in the photo below! It was just sitting in a large tree, directly over the trout stream. This tells me this stream must have some nice fish in it for sure! I may just have to get my fly rod out of storage...
Speaking of storage; less than two weeks until we move into the new house!! Soon our storage pods will be arriving, and we'll be able to actually get to our stuff!
