I only told a couple of people, but I hadn’t seen the “Mama Cat” for nearly 3 weeks. After happily greeting me every morning, one day she wasn’t there. And she wasn’t there the next day or the next; she’d simply disappeared. I tried not to go to “worst case” scenarios, but I know her world as a feral (or at least as a semi-feral) is a dangerous one….
So the first wonderful wonder of the day was when this special kitty girl came running to me this morning when we drove over to feed the cats! She was purring and kneading and twining around my legs, just as she done before her disappearance. I have NO idea where she’d been the last 3 weeks, but I was so very relieved to see her!
Wayne grabbed the camera and tried to take some pictures, but she was moving around too quickly to get a clear shot. 😉 But it was a good “feral” morning because we also saw the long-haired black kitty, as well as Orange Girl and Cali-1–four of the six I trapped and had neutered/spayed between December 2016 and March 2017.
As we were leaving, we noticed how the raindrops–that were still clinging to electric wires following yesterday’s rain–were sparkling and glistening in the early morning sunlight. Behind them, mist was rising from a field. Simple wonders, perhaps, but we always try to stay open to beauty, wherever its found.
After we got home, I sent yet another email to a woman I’d been trying to get in touch with on Craigslist regarding some fabric she wanted to sell. Since early August when the ad first appeared, I’d been emailing her, hoping to get some of it to use in my art classroom at school. This morning she finally replied. She apologized for the delayed response and said she was packing and getting ready to move. As to the fabric, she said if I wanted it, I could just HAVE it, as long as I could pick it up today! Yes, please!
After getting her address, we drove over the mountain to Waynesboro. It was a stunningly gorgeous day–especially appreciated after a couple of days of rain–and we enjoyed the familiar drive.
We navigated to the address the woman had given me, and I was surprised to find not one, not two, but THREE big boxes of fabric on her porch! She’d left a note on one of the boxes, saying she hoped I’d enjoy it. I just peeked into two of the boxes, and WOW! So much pretty fabric–can’t wait to look through it all. 🙂
We stopped by Wal-Mart so I could pick up some thread, zippers, and lining fabric, and this happened. It wasn’t exactly a dare, but Wayne urged me to try on one of the special masks so he could take a picture. I guess the “wonder” here is that I actually DID it. 😉
I don’t think I would have bought the tuxedo kitty mask (that was pictured on the large bin of masks), but they only had panthers, tigers, sharks, and raccoons. Ah, well….
After beheading myself (!) and paying for the things we’d purchased, we drove to a local park. We visited with a friend and his family that we saw there, and I tried to photograph a spider web that was glistening in the sun, almost the same way as the raindrops on the wires earlier in the day. I couldn’t get the camera to capture exactly what we saw, but it was nice to see this “prism” effect for the second time in one day.
We went to another park that has a paved path along the river, and we were delighted to see this guy:
It flew downstream a ways, but we saw it again as we walked further along the path.
Such a beautiful day–not quite 80 degrees. And bonus wildlife shot; there was a Cedar Waxwing in a tree beside the river. I rarely see Cedar Waxwings, so it’s always a treat when I can see–and photograph–them.
On the way home, we drove up to a parking lot at a visitors center on Afton Mountain. The center was closed, but-hey-we were there for the views. And we got them! 🙂
The Rockfish Valley and the Charlottesville area were to the southeast, and the Shenandoah Valley and the Waynesboro area were to the northwest.
This panorama shot was taken from left (west) to right (east). If you click on the picture, you should be able to see a much larger image.
So all in all, it was a day of simple–but beautiful–wonders. 🙂