A LOVELY STORY TOLD

by a woman I met near the pond. The weather also bad here in The Hague but I could not stay inside, wanted to smell and inhale the air from the sea.
I saw the heron flying towards a woman with a little bag in her hand. She stood still and waited till the heron was near her. She threw something to the heron, it was cheese, a little piece. Seeing me she started to talk about the heron she had fed for eleven years. She repeated eleven years! every day. Then some day after a thunderstorm with lightning the heron had not returned. Eleven years, she kept saying, everyday. The woman had an elegance and was so prettily clothed, she had a belgian accent, or that is what I thought it was.
Now she had a young heron that she came to greet and feed everyday. And I loved to take pictures of her new friend.
Some minutes before I had taken pictures of a wonderful piece of fungi and while doing that a woman came by my side and remarked that she found this a treasure and she pointed towards a place where other treasures were to be found. And the nice thing is, she said, that we can see all those treasures and they cost nothing.
A long travel day behind us yesterday, and now I am ready to start looking at your pictures and commenting.

My haiku:

Young hungry heron
Hip hopping ate all the cheese
Chewing it slowly

And the french proverb:

Skill is stronger than strength.