Sunbathing Wren / Glory of the Marsh / BrokenX2

A toad rescue, a bird in "distress?" at the marsh, and a double sunglasses tragedy!

What a day of unexpected adventures! It started out cool, so I began with an hour's weeding in the yard, followed by a short bike ride up Tow Hill. I came back and my husband and I started to get ready to go somewhere in the car. I found a small toad by the edge of the drive and rescued it; picked it up and moved it to the small sunflower garden out front.

We were taking my husband's older car out for a spin, including heading to Port Matilda for two Italian hoagies. We popped our sandwiches into the cooler and took them along to the Dreibelbis Birding Area, also known as the Miles Hollow or Julian Wetland.

We took our cooler over and ate our sandwiches in one of the bird blinds by the parking lot. It was shady and breezy and lovely, with nice views (and a huge hornet trying to build a nest under the bench I was sitting on, as I attempted to keep my cool and not provoke it - La la la!).

After the sandwiches, we sat on a bench and enjoyed the sun and the flowers, when we noticed a little bird behaving strangely. It had its wings all spread out, and it seemed to be flopping around on the ground. I heaved a sigh; went over to investigate. I knew the local animal rescue place was less than 3 miles away, if the bird needed help.

Well, guess what: the bird disappeared! Then I saw A bird hopping around looking chipper but I wasn't sure if it was THE SAME bird or maybe its parent. Then the original bird came back and seemed to be truffling around in some brown leaves almost the same brown shade as the bird.

I snapped a number of photos, and I asked my bird people what was going on when I got back home to my computer and Facebook. As it turns out, multiple bird experts weighed in: this bird is a Carolina wren, and it is not in any distress at all. In fact, it is SUNBATHING!!! *head-desk!* Thank goodness I didn't try to "rescue" it from its sunbath!

When we left the house, we had not intended to go for a walk. I was wearing a pair of sort of dressy, newish Crocs, and my husband had on open sandals. It had never occurred to us, despite the huge storm we got the other day, that the marsh might be flooded. Well, guess what: the one trail was flooded out. I COULD have marched through the standing water in my Crocs, because Crocs are all about that, but I just didn't feel like getting them cruddy.

So we picked the other path, and walked past the sign over to the little observation platform where we had a great view out over the marsh. This is a very small but well appointed marsh, and with the new water, it seemed especially beautiful to me! Full of all kinds of plants, amphibians, birds, and reflections. You may view the glory of the marsh in the extras.

My day of adventures was not over, oh no. We got home, and I saw on the local Facebook group that a neighbor not far away was giving away some free stuff. Well, I'm all about the free stuff! (See here, here, and here, but not here.) So I thought I'd hop on my bike and ride over to check it out.

I grabbed my brown sunglasses and daysack and headed for the front porch, where my husband was reading his book. I went to put my sunglasses on, only to discover that they were BROKEN. Now, I'd been wearing them all day and they were fine. No, it wasn't just the pin missing. The pin was FINE. The glasses were broken!

So I went upstairs to get a second pair of sunglasses: the white ones. Put them on my face. Hopped on the bike. Went and picked up a few small items of free stuff. Wished I'd brought my camera along, as they had huge sunflowers in their front yard!

I came back home and met my husband in the driveway. He had cleaned the mud off a pair of shoes I frequently use and he wanted to point out the excessive wear I was putting on them. (Oh, what a shocker!) As I pulled my white sunglasses off my face for a better look, the white sunglasses BROKE into two pieces! Oh no, a DOUBLE goocher!

Now, it is apparent that I am at some kind of sunglasses breaking nexus here. These are the two pairs I've been wearing for the past several years. (Photo of Broken Eyewear X 2 in the extras.) They were not cheap. The brown pair is Angel Eyewear, Desire. The white pair is Crusheyes. I said to my husband, "What shall I break next?" He replied: "Stay away from me!" LOL!

So that is the tale of my strange and interesting day. I've got three photos, so here are three songs. For the sunbathing bird, who is probably REALLY glad I didn't succeed in rescuing it, here is Sheryl Crow, with Soak Up the Sun. 

For the beautiful marsh, full of water after the recent storms, and full of life, here's a tune I loved in a recent rewatched episode of Blacklist, Mark Lanegan, with Bleeding Muddy Water.  

For the broken sunglasses in the extras, I wanted a sunglasses song, so though it's not actually TRUE, it's funny; so here is ZZ Top, with Cheap Sunglasses. I think I may try to Super Glue that white pair. . . .