The last mornings have been foggy, giving our walks on the trail a dreamy quality. Earlier in the week, Lucy and I encountered a large buck moose, just to the right where this picture was taken. It was on a misty evening and the moose and I watched each other for quite some time until Lucy (oblivious and sniffing around in the tall grass) finally noticed the moose and went running towards him. She didn’t chase him far, the way she does with the deer. Instead, she seemed more sober and respectful of this great majestic animal. It was a magical encounter and I regretted leaving my camera at home on that particular evening as I would have been close enough for a good shot.

Also last week, as I was working on the blog, I watched as a large red fox ran down my driveway and out into the back woods. It was graceful and beautiful and so quick on its feet!

Then, driving home from the city yesterday, I saw a large coyote in the ditch on the side of the road. The grass was shorter there so I had a very good look at this beautiful, wild creature as I passed by.

And finally, today there were close encounters with mice. (eek!) This afternoon, I took some friends to the garden to choose a pumpkin. As I lifted the tarp that was protecting the hardening produce, a mouse darted out from under it and ran towards little 3-year old W, over both her little feet and then kept on running. We all laughed with her in delight of this close encounter. Then the mouse ran over to T (husband) and he jumped and again we all laughed. Meanwhile, a second mouse was running towards my dear friend F, and this time the laughter turned to ear-piercing shrieks and a funny lop-sided jig as she tried to jump out of the way. And there I was, clicking away and catching it all on camera (as I was taking family photographs outdoors with them this afternoon at the cabin).  Yes, deep belly laughs and memories made -and captured!