I love visiting family and friends. Yet despite my best efforts, I never see everyone when I travel to the east coast. It was great fun though seeing everyone I could and their interactions with various animals, beyond their usual cat and/or dog.

Observing birds, such as the common eider; a new bird for my life list. Videos from a trail camera of woodchucks, fox, black bears, deer and others in the local woods where family members live. As I slept in my van, I wondered and listened in case any of those critters walked by while I slept. A sighting of a turtle; then a video of it digging a hole to lay its eggs the next day along my sister’s driveway! Helping to complete alpaca care with another sister … her labor of love for 30 plus alpacas is huge as I could only help in a small way with water in buckets and scooping poop. A neighbor shared information about her peacocks as we observed them in her backyard. I watched as a friend solved a bull’s dilemma in needing to get its head out of its hay feeder. Never a dull moment, even as I watched a spider capture other insects in its web!

Of course, it was wonderful to see everyone. I also love seeing life in its various forms and activities. Here are a few photos as I continue to keep my eyes open during my travel.

Latest news: there are many more bears in the area, plus coyotes! The bears however are causing havoc with garbage containers of all size. One bear is huge in size, another yearling is causing the most headaches for all and another bear has 3 young cubs. Wow ….