Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Our Story Street


Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" to the Tuesday Slice of Life sponsored by Two Writing Teachers. 

This particular street has held fun memories for our family ever since my daughter and my husband encountered the law on an evening walk down this street.  A few years ago, a colleague bought a house there.  It always makes a street sweeter when a friend lives on it, or in her case, beside it.  This week hubby and I had our own adventure on this street.

It was dark as we returned from our Friday evening walk, but we had enough light to make our way down the dead end street that allows us to cut through the schoolyard for a shortcut on our return journey home.  Sometimes the side gate to the school is locked requiring us to retrace our steps, go through the park, and climb up the hill.   We were hopeful that the gate would be open.

As we walked under the trees, something flew low, right toward us and over our heads.  I remarked, “That’s a brave crow.”  I turned to look at the trees behind us and saw a dark form on the tree branch.  That dark form seemed bigger than a crow.  I whipped out my phone, turned on the flashlight, and pointed it at the tree branch.  Much to our surprise, it was an owl staring right at us.  We marveled at our luck and continued our walk.

Just as we arrived at the school gate, we had a repeat performance only this time the flight came from behind, and the bird landed on a branch in front of us.   Once again, I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight.   Sure enough, it was an owl, probably the same one.  He seemed quite interested in our progress, but I was a little spooked that he might track us all the way home (residual memories from Hitchcock's film).   So I stepped out from under the trees and headed for the open field.  I wanted to be sure that I was not the mammal this owl was tracking for dinner!

One of these days, I’ll share the other adventure that occurred on our story street. 

8 comments:

  1. How fun to encounter an owl on your walk. I have a set of Animal Cards that have messages for each animal. The owl's says: Honor intuition. Use discernment. Outsmart deception. Trust your first impressions. I always like to read the animal's card when one pops into my life like the owl did for you. Jackie http://familytrove.blogspot.com/2014/08/distractions-while-writing.html

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    1. Jackie, thanks for sharing those messages. Now I'm wondering about the heron my daughter and I saw in NY.

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  2. Big birds like hawks, eagles, herons, owls, etc. are always so amazing. It's like Owl Moon!

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  3. Oh my! I don't think I've ever seen an owl just hanging around, except for maybe in a zoo!

    I must know what else has happened on this street...

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  4. Wonderful story and happening, Ramona. My husband's aunt & uncle, on a small farm, took evening walks with us to show the "resident, or local" owl. We walked into the woods & sat, & then it flew near, just like you're describing. I guess they really are curious about these 'large' creatures in their territory. Arvie's uncle was grateful, said they really kept the rodent population down. I hope you see the owl again!

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    1. I hear owls often, but rarely see them. This was such a surprise encounter and to have it happen on our story street was especially delightful!

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