Thwart, Thwart, Thwart

There's been a whole lot of thwarting going on around here lately!

A few days ago, I posted a photo of the heron which we have been regularly passing by. I said he was always there, always in the same spot. So, we made a special trip with my camera and the telephoto lens.

Thwart! He was there but much further back, so far back that the telephoto lens couldn't bring the heron close enough for a decent picture.

That was in the afternoon. However, we usually bike in the morning, and, sure enough, when we cycled by the bird on the next morning, he was back in his usual spot, relatively close to the road — close enough that had I brought it I would have been able to get a fairly tight shot with my telephoto lens (which I don't take with me on the bike).

Yesterday morning, when Cuppa went out for coffee with a friend, I decided to visit the cemetery, and I wrote about that already (in the post just below this one). However, before going to the cemetery, I and my telephoto lens detoured to the drain, thinking that, since it was morning, the bird surely would be there posing in his photo-friendly spot.

Thwart! He was way back up the ditch once more. Does he somehow sense when I will have my camera and take appropriate evasive action? I took some photos regardless, and rather like the colour of the grassy and reedy bank to the left and the landscape in general in the following picture. But the heron is no closer with the telephoto lens than he was in the previous photo without it.

Hold on; there are more thwarts coming, for yesterday afternoon, after being treated to a farewell lunch by our elderly neighbours who live across the road, we decided to go for a ride. We changed into our cycling gear and got on the bikes.

Thwart! I had a flat tire: my first in over a year. We put the bikes away and did some more packing. What fun!

Then, yesterday evening while I was doing something or other outside, I noticed the sun lowering in the sky through the trees across the street. The sun seemed full, and I thought this would be a good photo op. "Let's drive out to the lake and take some sunset pictures," said I.

On the way, we stopped by the heron's hang out once again.

Thwart! You guessed right; he was far away — again! For something to do, I turned the camera to the side and took the following photo. I suppose that it does in a pinch, but it is most certainly not what I had in mind!

Do you notice the cloud cover in the above photo? Please recall that we had set out in quest of a glorious sunset over Lake Huron, but that must have been interpreted by the universe as a clarion call to immediately dispatch abundant clouds our way. Nevertheless, we continued; perhaps the clouds would dissipate. Hah!

Thwart! Although the eastern sky remained clear, the western sky was almost obscured. The following photo was the best I could manage. I played with it in Photoshop to try to breathe some life and drama into it, but you can only do so much.

With all of that behind me, I called the bike shop this morning and asked if they could fix the flat. Yes, they could, and with some difficulty we crammed and jammed the bike into the car and headed off.

Major thwart! My back spasmed as I was lifting the bike out of the car to take it into the shop. Now, I can barely move. Cuppa is attending to last minute packing, but here I sit — uselessly immobilized. We can probably get help to pack the car tomorrow night, and there's little for us to do on Monday but be here while the movers pack up the truck. But then, we have to get in the car and drive for seven hours, and no one is going to be able to help with that trip. I think that I will be able to manage to do my share of the driving (well perhaps not exactly my share since I generally do all of the driving), for I can adjust the car seat to a fairly back friendly position, but we'll be on pins and needles until we get there.

This isn't at all what I had hoped. I don't want to be immobile right now, especially not now, not as we undertake the most major move of our lives. I will try to handle myself with cheerfulness and good grace, but I feel mighty useless. I feel that I have let the team down.

Thwart, thwart, thwart!