Back from my favorite place...

Is this cool or what? The hummingbirds were plentiful at the campground and at this one feeder there are 7 or 8 of them trying to get to the food. They don't mind people being close to them. In fact, I was able to get a couple of them to land on my finger while they ate. I got a picture of one of them on my finger, but it is blurry, so I think that this is a better shot. Hummingbirds are so amazing... being so close and watching their little tongues dart in and out to get the food was so cool.
This is a picture of two hummingbirds around me at the same time. It was hard to stand still with them flying around. My instinct is to bat at them as if they were a large bug zooming at me.

And of course there was kayaking! I got to go up for a nice long ride by myself. I paddled up the river past a cabin that is up there and the person who owns the cabin had made some changes since I last paddled by. I later learned that the changes I noticed have been there for a few years. My knee has not allowed me to be comfortable enough in the kayak to be in it long enough to get there...until this year. It was great! I paddled hard all the way up there and then let the current bring me back. The weather was decent while I was there...
on the sunny days there were these magnificent white puffy clouds... gorgeous. This picture is of a couple of branches that have fallen into the river and their reflections. I have a different angle of this and it looks like a spider... the round part looks like the body of the spider and the other part looks like the teeth and front legs of it. The water was so calm that the reflections were beautiful. Mom was with me on that kayak trip... she loves looking at roots of the trees along the river and their reflections. She was impressed with these branches and their reflections.

Mom also loves the lilies that grow amongst the lily pads in the inlets and small ponds we can access with the kayaks from the river. This is a lily I saw on one of my trips and was able to get a good angle. Mom loves how delicate they are. I am so glad that we share that love of nature. When I kayak with her I like to see the river through her eyes... pausing to look at the ferns, the different shapes and sizes and shades of green... it's nice.

She sees the beauty in the simple things... I love that about her. Mom was doing pretty well with our kayak trip... we were gone long enough for dad to wonder and come check on us. He wanted to see if mom was getting too tired and offered to tow her back to the campground. She took him up on his offer because it was raining and she was afraid that she would take too long to paddle back and would get chilled. Since being sick, she has a hard time regulating her body temperature. So this is a pic of my mom...being rescued by her knight in shiny armor... I love that dad keeps a close eye on mom... and love that she does the same for him. They are so respectful of each other and thoughtful... I love them for that. It was a wonderful trip. Mom started feeling less well on Sunday, but bounced back a little yesterday. She is currently off her meds which usually means she feels a lot worse, but she has done better this time.

I followed mom and dad back to their house yesterday. When we got there I was able to help dad do a couple of things... which involved climbing up and down a small, but steep, hill near the house... I was able to do it easily! I was so excited that my knee allowed me to do that. I could not have done that last summer or even the summer before. SO I see progress...

I did not eat well while I was there. I had taken healthy food for myself... and as it worked out my food was appetizing to mom and dad... so my healthy food that would have lasted me for the duration of time I was there... didn't last long when being eaten by three of us... so... I ended up having some unhealthy choices. But... not much I could have done without making my parents feel bad... If I had gone into the grocery store (a 30 minute drive) mom would have felt bad that she had eaten my food... so I went with it. Just being together and making things as easy as possible was more important. I went to the gym last night when I got back and already went today, so I feel less guilty.. .but... feel so much better when I eat well.

Anyway, that's enough for today, I have to get ready for work... turnpike work... not school... although school starts MONDAY! UGH!