The Walk That Went Nowhere

We had a fun visit in Nova Scotia from Thursday to Sunday. We got home around 7:30 on Sunday night and I went out to water the garden. We’d had a hot sunny weekend at home in the valley, and I’d say that things weren’t much different in Saint John. Things were looking wilt-y.

We were still on vacation for the rest of the week. Yay! Our cat & house sitter was only available from Friday to Sunday though, so that set the dates for or visit to Nova Scotia. It was nice to have a week at home though, the weather has mostly been good and Husband and I are both content relaxing at home.

Monday evening I headed out for a walk. There is a spot, just a few minutes walk from our house that the city had all torn up to do some work last summer. Since then I’ve sometimes seen ducks, geese and deer wandering around if I happen by at the right time. Of course, any time I remember to take my camera, it’s deserted.

Sure enough on Monday night, no camera on my person, I saw a deer. I stopped and wondered how likely it would be that I could run back, get my camera and return to find the deer still there. I hesitated for a moment, then decided it was worth a try.

Back to the house for my camera, back down the street. Yes! The deer is still there! Plus I see a second one farther in. I get my zoom lens on, get all set up and positioned and click the shutter….Only to find there is no card in the camera; I had not put it back it when transferring my photos from the weekend, earlier in the day.

Another moment of hesitation. Then I turn around and head back to the house.
If you’ve watched much science fiction, you’ve probably seen an episode of a show where the characters get caught in a loop, repeating the same actions over and over again, until finally someone saves the day and the show ends with a positive outcome. That popped into my head as I was covering the same ground for the third time.

I made it back, with the card in my camera, and the deer were still there. I snapped a couple of shots and noticed there was a couple walking down the sidewalk. I wondered if, after all that  back and forth, the deer were just going to get scared off.



The deer did actually run off into the trees, and the couple apologized for scaring it off, but obviously they had a perfect right to be walking down the sidewalk. The deer hadn’t gone very far though, and in no time it was sauntering back out, not at all perturbed by the fact that  I was standing there.



I spared a moment to get a shot of the other deer, farther in



And before long, my closest subject was heading for the other side of the road – still not at all concerned by me standing there.



I decided to get a bit closer to the second deer.




This guy seemed a little more wary. I looked down and fiddled with my camera for a moment and when I looked up, it had retreated into the bushes.

I like this last shot, though you may need to click to enlarge to see the one deer’s head peering through the bushes, and a third that I had not noticed up to that point farther in (toward top right of the photo).



I didn’t get very far on this walk, but I’m still counting it. With all the back and forth, I certainly got in some steps.