Read My Lips

It's now five weeks that I have been dealing with lip issues. My bottom lip is much improved, no question. But it is still sore and sensitive. I have my six month skin check with my dermatologist on Tuesday, so I decided to wait it out to see what she has to say. Hopefully there is just some prescription cream I can put on to finally heal it up. I'll also be hoping that she doesn't see anything that needs to be burned off or biopsied. We have guests arriving on Thursday and I don't want to have to deal with any of that while they are here. Fingers crossed...

The dog days of summer have certainly been here. We had excessively high heat here, like a lot of the country. We were in a drought, but this week brought us some much-needed rain. It was great to get a break from the daily watering of our outdoor plants. The temperature has also been a bit cooler the past few days.

We so enjoy having the lake out our back door. The other day we watched an eagle fishing. He caught such a big catfish with his talons that he could not lift up out of the water. Instead he channeled his inner Michael Phelps and did the breast stroke across the lake. When he got to the shore, he rested and had himself a feast. My camera lens isn't long enough to capture an image that far away, but it was certainly something to see. Fortunately I can always get a nice sky picture from my backyard.

Mountain Island Lake

Beauty out Back

 

Mountain Island Lake sunset

The other night I was blessed to see this beautiful sky behind our house as the sun was going down. It is hard to imagine all the ugliness and cruelty going on in the world right now when I'm surrounded by such incredible scenes on a daily basis. Just in the last few days I have spotted an eagle on the lake, a lizard making himself at home on our porch, a praying mantis, and some of our perennials bursting with color despite the date and the cooler temperatures. We are truly blessed to be here.

Mother Nature at her finest

Hawk vs Eagle

Yesterday we saw the most amazing thing out in the middle of Mountain Island Lake. I was looking out our back window when I saw a bird strike the water. I thought he was fishing at first, but then I noticed another bird circling over his head. Calling for my husband to grab his camera, I reached for mine and we hurried out into the back yard. 

I was stunned to see an eagle in the water, and a hawk diving at him from above. It appeared as though the eagle might be wounded as he did not try to take flight. Instead he used his wings like Michael Phelps doing the butterfly stroke across the lake. Periodically he had to flip back and ward off the hawk with his beak and talons. Eventually the hawk left, and the eagle drug himself out of the water onto the shore. But not before scaring two blue herons out of the water nearby. It was something to see for sure!