Foggy Morns, Werewolves and Skewed Views

   For the past few mornings, it has been terrifically foggy.  It reminds me of the old horror movies where a werewolf is stalking a hapless pedestrian through dark trails in a heavily wooded area.  It reminded me of that but, to be honest, I have yet to see fog accumulate in the thick woods.  Here on the Bayou, the fog stays over the marsh and water.  It is not often that much settles in even in the treed areas of the yard.  Anyway, the fog had settled in overnight causing everything to be sort of drippy.  It would, indeed, have been the perfect werewolf sort of morn but, alas, none were to be found.

  Instead, I found fog-laden spiderwebs! (Albeit, wolf spiders so maybe those can be my werewolves!) I also found lovely droplets dangling on every leaf and twig.  To me, those are intriguing so, of course, it is required to photograph a few.  If you ever take the time to really look at the droplets, they contain a skewed image of the area beyond.  Things are flipped upside down and have weird, bendy shapes as they arch with the convexity of the droplet.  When viewed through a droplet, the world appears as it would in a dream world.  Everything is perfectly clear but topsy-turvy and, no matter how you try to focus, the brain does not want to wrap around the sight.  

  The old rose bush was coated with the heavy layer of fog.  The droplets slowly rolled down the leaves to form a large drip that lingered long enough for me to study.  Then...splat!  Down on the ground it went.  My dreamland was shattered on the mulch!  Ok, so it was probably time to stop creating "Tales of the Fog" and get the chores started for the day.  Still...that werewolf could be just around the next curve in the path!

The Beauty Of Hardware Cloth

  Living on the Bayou has its ups and downs.  Some might say there are more troublesome things than positive but it seems that for every woe there is a fix.  Like most homes down here, we have screens covering our windows.  This is meant to keep the hordes of bugs from entering the house.  Sleeping with the windows open is a natural thing as it lets in the cooling night air.  The bad side of this is those mosquitoes (roaches, moths, gnats, midges, etc) which aggravate the stew out of a person trying to sleep.  The window screens work well to guard against the bugs but...what happens when larger critters take a liking to the inside of the house?  We have had times where raccoons, 'possums and even feral cats have tried to rip the screens to get inside.  This is not good so Mark came up with the idea of not only using screening but layering it with hardware cloth.  This has worked fine against the marauding critters!  There have been no more torn screens nor attempted invasions.  While some folks may think it is a tad strange...those same folks don't live amidst the critters.

  It was that hardware cloth that brought a smile this morning.  Our never-ending fog was particularly heavy overnight.  It was so thick, in fact, that it sounded more like rain than fog!  The stuff coated everything including the hardware cloth covering the south-facing windows.  These are the windows that have dozens of crystals that normally catch the morning sunlight and cast rainbows over the entire room.  Since there was no sun, there were no rainbows but that did not stop the beauty.  The fog droplets started running in strings down the wire of the hardware cloth making the entire window appear to be covered with crystals!  Hundreds upon hundreds of the droplets caught any light available to give of the slightest twinkle.  To be honest, it was breath-taking!

  There are those who may think I am a bit daft (and I do not contest this at all) but I figure you should find beauty where you are.  There is absolutely no point in having to search for grand things when they are all around you.  In my case, Mother Nature decided to add her charm to my window crystals by adding a multitude of her own.  It seems the hardware cloth is now a favorite for yet another reason.

Where did the world go?

   About 3pm, I took the old dog out for a hike.  Not that he hikes any more.  Rather, he meanders to the first place he deems comfortable and then sits. There he stays for the duration.  I walk around him keeping within 10 to 15 feet so he won't panic about the distance. My hiking world had disappeared, so it seemed.

  While out this afternoon, a heavy fog was rolling in off the  Bay.  We were in a slightly sheltered area beneath an old oak tree but the world around us was slowly being devoured by the "mist monster".  It did not take long before much of the scenery was completely blocked from view.  It is times like this that the imagination can run wild with tales of happenings on the Bayou.  You can get that eerie feeling that something or someone is watching your every step.  Things can get pretty creepy if you let that imagination slip too far into the mysterious, dark channels of the mind.

  On a brighter note, all of this fog made for some pretty exquisite spiderwebs.  The fog causes water droplets to linger on the wispy threads of silk.  It always amazes me how strong each strand of webbing is.  The droplets hang like jewels of a necklace and even the tiniest bit of light makes them sparkle.  These jewels can compare with the brightest diamonds found.

  So, there you have it, folks. My world did not disappear.  It only became fog laden.  Life is all in how you look at things and we need to all learn to make the best of whatever is thrown at us. When we focus on problems, they multiply but when we focus on possibilities, new opportunities come into play.  My limited hike still managed to provide a bit of interest.