Sometimes You Don't Need a Camera, You Have Your Memory!

My luck, as it goes, puts me in situations here where I see ABSOLUTELY wonderful sights but either don't have my phone, with its camera, with me or can't get it out of its case, wake it up, and connect to the camera fast enough to capture the moment.  I used to get so bummed because I couldn't share it with you, but now I just stand there and enjoy the experience. 

The last few winters across the northern US have been tough on the deer population, so we don't see the six to eight deer in our pasture as we've seen in the past.  But we do have one young buck (or doe - can't tell at this point) that has taken a fancy to us, is young enough to still be very curious, and likes to stroll (I mean stroll) with head held high, through our farm.  For the sake of this post, I'll refer to the deer as "him." 

He strolls through our cathedral windbreak - we can see him through our north living room window while we eat breakfast and catch the morning news.  He strolls out from the cathedral through our metal ornate archway...strolls over to our front window and stretches his neck to see in and then just strolls on across the road. 

This morning we didn't see him at breakfast.  I left the house and walked to the barn to feed and check on our rabbits.  Mark had already opened the back barn doors and the sunshine was streaming in...like this photo.  I had walked about half way down the center walk way and looked out at the beautiful morning...just then our young deer friend strolled into the doorway - seeming to be just checking out the barn.  I stopped in my tracks and slowly reached around for my phone.  He looked up at me and froze.  We stood quietly looking at each other for what seemed the longest time!  I was only about 10 short steps from him.  He was beautiful, very muscular, very ALIVE!!  It is more wonderful than I can tell you to be so close to a wild but calm animal. 

After a short time, I tried to slowly reach for my camera again - he didn't like my movement but he didn't run...but just turned and strolled  away.  As he moved away, I grabbed my phone and tried to catch him in a photo from behind.  But just then a truck drove by and frightened him and be bolted away. 

As Keva said in her recent post - being in the moment is a true blessing and you don't need a photo, you just need your memory.