This may be the longest wrap up I’ve ever written…
The Personal
Heh. It almost sounds silly to have that heading be called “Personal.” It’s all personal, isn’t it? 😉
August marked the first time that I’ve ever taken a two-week vacation in OBX. Strangely it seemed to pass quicker than a one-week stay. Was it because I was so lazy and mostly hung out by or in the pool, reading, and pretending I was a beach bum rather than try to get in as much biking, walking, picture taking, etc that I always try to get into during one week? I dunno. Maybe three weeks would do it.
Yeah. Right.
I did take my camera on walks. On one, I thought I saw a very large worm struggling in the road. The last time I saw what I thought was a very large worm, I was in Marco Island, Florida and the large worm was a small snake at dusk. This turned out to be a juvenile snake who’d had its tail run over by a car.
At one point in my life, I would have walked away. I think. I’m not sure. But frankly these days I cannot walk away. If a creature’s struggling, I will try to assist. My main thought was that this snake was probably not going to live and the last place it should die is the middle of a red hot road. It didn’t seem dignified. Is that crazy? Regardless, I searched for a long enough stick, still aware that it could bite, and tried to move it from the road. It took two tries. I rested it on the side of the road, hoping that its young life would provide it with a miracle.
When I got back, I Googled and think the little guy was a rat snake. He was beautiful. Mind you, there was a point in my life when my parents put the fear of snakes in me when we summered in West Virginia. These days I know that every creature has it place in the environment. Except ticks and mosquitoes. Those I annihilate. (Sorry creator of ticks and mosquitoes.)
My other interaction with native OBX reptiles/amphibians occurred while I was reading. I thought a bug was crawling up my leg. Fortunately, after having been stung by a bee years ago after just swatting away, I look now. This dude was crawling up my leg:
I’m sure Green Anole thought it was an earthquake as I lowered my leg and let him run back over the deck and up to a post where he turned brown.
Books!
I tried to get most of the obligatory books, the ones I sometimes foolishly sign up to read for blog tours, read before I left for vacation hoping that I could just read fun books. I think that mostly turned out well.
Book Read/Reviewed
Changeling and Fledgling by Molly Harper (2 books, 2 reviews)
A Highlander Walks into a Bar by Laura Trentham
Kiss Me in Sweetwater Springs by Annie Rains
Announcing Trouble by Amy Fellner Dominy
The Oysterville Sewing Society by Susan Wiggs
Beauty and the Bayou by Erin Nicholas
Fast & Easy Vegan by JL Fields
On the Corner of Love and Hate by Nina Bocci
Motivation Matters by Wendy H. Jones
August seemed to provide me with some of my favorites of the year so far. (I may have to doublecheck that I’m not leaving out something read earlier in the year.)
My favorite cookbook of the year? Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi
My favorite paranormal of the year? Sapphire Flames by Ilona Andrews
And my favorite book of August, probably, maybe for the year! (how’s that for definite?!) Things You Save in the Fire by Katherine Center
Writing
Writing was meh. Of what I did write, my flash fiction for Friday Fictioneers for August 21 called “Fate Date” was my favorite.
I hope to get a lot more writing done in September.
Conclusion
Yep. These wrap up posts take a long time for me. I shall find a better way. (Please don’t tell me if I’ve said that 10 times before. Let me remain blithely optimistic. 😉 )
Thanks to any one who has made it to the end of this post. Punch and cookies will be served in the attrium.
THE END
That poor snake. 🙁 It does look like a rat snake without me searching to figure it out. They’re harmless (I know people have fears as I used to be one of those). The anole is adorable. Great photos.
I know. I’d never seen a rat snake before and it was just beautiful. It never tried to go at me although it let its tongue taste the air.
And thanks. I’ve had a hard time adjusting to taking pictures since I’ve been wearing eyeglasses all the time. Half the pics are good, half not. 🙂
It’s always a process. When I took a lot of photos, I would take a good 10-20 to get one good one. That’s ok now with digital, but it sucked with film.
Great photos!
Thank you, Robyn! 🙂
Love the little green guy! I probably would have freaked and shot out of my chair if I’d found it crawling on me because even though I’m sure somewhere in my brain I was conscious it wouldn’t hurt me, my natural reaction is to turn into an utter spaz if something crawls on me.
Yeah. I’m not quite sure what my reaction would have been if it had been something more terrifying.