Tropical Storm Elsa cleared up in time for us to have our supper down at the beach. Didn’t see any storm damage, although other parts of Connecticut got some flash flooding. We had 4 inches of rain. The winds weren’t too bad but it was still pretty breezy down by the water. The wildflowers on the rocks looked freshly showered.
We had two gulls to keep us company. They waited politely and posed for pictures but never got a bit of food from us.
After we ate we took a walk over to look at the island where we saw the great blue heron the other day but he wasn’t there. Instead, we saw a Canada goose hanging out with the American oystercatchers. If only I could get closer!
And as we passed by the song sparrow’s thicket we saw one of them. When he faced the sun and the wind he looked fine, and when he turned and faced away from the wind his feathers ruffled.
It was good to get out of the house. Still trying to wrap our minds around the latest COVID-19 news, that 4 million people have died of it worldwide. (Probably many more than that.) Even though things seem almost back to normal around here, the fact is that most of the world is still in a very precarious situation.
We worked on a jigsaw puzzle during the storm… Now it’s back to the heat and humidity and thunderstorms…
I see the Herring Gull put on toe nail polish to match her eyes.
🤣 😊 🙃
Glad you had no storm worries, we fared fine at home too. Wonderful captures, Barbara, I love those pink Herring feet!!
Thank you, Donna! Those feet were something else, eh? She was coming so close I figured I might as well zoom in. 😊 Happy to hear your home came through the storm, too.
I liked that photo of the wildflowers, it reminded me of the photos you see in expensive cooking books – strewn with wildflowers. I wanted to taste those flowers 🙂 All photos so FRESH
Thank you. Leelah! The entangled blooms did look like a wildflower salad to me. 🙂 I have no idea which flowers are safe to eat, though, so the temptation to taste must be squelched. 😉
I like your close-up of the Herring gull. I didn’t realize their eyes are such an interesting color! And what a pretty place this is, the mouth of the Thames River. Glad you survived the storm, Barbara, but I’m sorry you, too, are now dealing with heat and humidity.
Thank you, Debbie! Getting close-ups of gulls is how I spend my summers. 🤣 I sit down on a bench and they come over. We do feel lucky to have this little city beach where the river meets Long Island Sound so close by. Having this great escape available every evening makes the summer bearable.
Glad you were unscathed by the storm – what a relief that is when a major weather event is over. Your gull pictures are great Barbara – such nice closeups you got of the gull’s face and feet. 🙂 And that was a pretty pose – no doubt thinking you’d brought along a treat. Best not to do that – it ends up like a scene from “The Birds” as we both know as gulls suddenly have friends and family coming out of nowhere. We had an all-day rain here and storms every day until next weekend. At least through this Wednesday, the storms are in the afternoon thankfully.
Thank you, Linda! We do get feeding frenzy scenes when people break the rules and feed them. Then it’s hard to appreciate the gulls’ better qualities. 😉
It is a relief TS Elsa has passed, but I can’t help wondering how many more of these we will be getting this year. Last year was a record-breaking hurricane season and I have a feeling this one will be no different. Hurricanes don’t make it up here as often as they hit the southern states but we have had a few doozies. And with climate change I fear that will happen more often. Hurricane Sandy in 2012 caused a lot of damage at the beach:
https://www.ingebrita.net/2012/11/sandy-aftermath-ii/
A few posts before and after the one above show more damage. The possibility of more storms like that one worry me.
Climate change is worrisome – seeing the damage from Hurricane Sandy is chilling. I’m a weather worrier and these constant storms and the weather radio alarm going off for severe weather and high winds is very unsettling. I did hear it was a record year last year and may this year as well. I hope they are wrong. Thank you for sending me the links to the pictures. I referred to it as Super Storm Sandy … I think that was the original classification … boy were they wrong! It was a hurricane and turned out to be much more powerful than originally thought.
Before the pandemic hit climate change was my greatest fear. Sigh… Now they seem to be going hand in hand. June was the hottest month ever recorded in the lower 48 states. I don’t understand the difference between a superstorm and a hurricane — Sandy started out as a hurricane and so is stuck that way in my mind. Scientists are forever fine-tuning their definitions. Pluto is no longer a planet, but a dwarf planet. It’s hard to keep up! 😉
I think since you were immersed in Sandy, you refer to it as a hurricane … here in Michigan they only called it a super storm – Michigan was not there, what do we know? It was awful, no matter its classification. I also worry about climate change and I’ve been dwelling on getting an instant-on generator. It’s just me … I think sometimes … could I handle a regular generator? The house is small as is the garage and my car is plugged into the wall all the time (battery has a trickle charger). I don’t want gasoline stored in a can in the garage with the car plugged in all the time and I have nowhere to put a gasoline-powered generator. I have electric and manual lawn mowers. My fears are because of Winter and each Polar Vortex event we get worries me more. Also because I have no family here, but also I worry about the pipes freezing. Losing perishables in a power outage is bad enough and I’ve had that happen several times through the years, but frozen pipes – lots of damage. So I worry and stew about that and then today I heard the story about how the moon is wobbling/tilting and in the 2030s coastal cities will have more flooding than usual. Is there no end to our worries? We’ve had almost three weeks of rain and another severe storm Thursday. (And I worry about COVID, despite having the two shots – stats are rising all across the U.S. and here in Michigan where we are only 47% fully vaccinated).
The idea of a gasoline-powered generator makes me nervous. I commend you for having electric and manual lawn mowers. My blood boils every time the landscapers come to our complex with their gas-powered leaf blowers, weed whackers and lawn mowers. Grrr…. I understand how worrying it must be to be alone and having to deal with emergencies. Do you have a shelter available within walking distance? We’ve never had to use ours but it’s nice to know it’s there. Also the good folks at the senior center can steer you to resources…
That herring gull as a bit of attitude. Looks kind of like it might not be happy with you for not sharing your food. It’s hot and humid here now– and will be for the week. Am thinking it’s time for a jigsaw puzzle.
Definitely on the brazen side, every time I looked away it took a few steps closer to me. But I just kept taking its picture and it finally flew up to the post, where all good gulls should sit for their portraits, and then I got its feet. Our week will be the same as yours and another jigsaw puzzle might be in the picture.