On the Land and in the Sea

I captured this snake in the yard. The reason this find was memorable is that I was out playing with my nephew when we found it. We were not sure if it was alive or not. We kept an eye on it. In fact, we kept an eye on it for a couple of days. We were pretty sure it was dead, but we watched anyway. It made for such a nice picture with the fall colors contrasting with its pale body. That is the best of the images I have captured.

The next image is not so difficult to capture either. I found this tiger . . . at the zoo. I spent a bit more time there because tigers are my favorite animal. Any time I can get a picture of them or see them, I get excited. Though there are many amazing animals in the zoo, seeing a tiger always makes my day.

The third picture is of a coyote. Sure, there are coyotes in many places. This picture was taken in California. Here is the back story. I have an amazing friend. We lived together for a while and fought like crazy, but we were also crazy close and have been ever since. When we moved away from each other, we made plans to see each other when we could, even if it ended up being years in between. I planned my travel to have a layover in Los Angeles. While I toured around with my two friends there, one of our drives went by Warner Brothers Studios. How ironic that outside of WB studios, I would see a coyote. I had to take a picture. It tickles me every time I see the picture and remember the story behind it. The memory is more precious still since I will not have any more adventures with my friend. Cancer did not get the best of her, but it got the rest of her earlier this year. I have my memories of her.

Unfortunately, my memory is already getting sketchy. I cannot remember if she was there for the last image. I did not actually take the last image. I cannot find the one I took. I looked for something close to what I want to describe.

One day while a group of friends was out at the beach, I was snorkeling. I had a great time even in the shallow water. I saw two pairs of swimmers that captivated me. I would follow one and then find the others and follow them. The first set was a pair of baby sharks. Yes, I did sing the song in my head. I was excited, but at the same time, I did not want them to nibble on my toes. They were only a couple of feet long. I believe they were the blacktip reef shark common to the area. The babies were frequently seen within the shelter of the reef.

When I was not with those sharks, I set out to find the rainbow fish. This particular pair of rainbow fish was amazing to me for a couple of reasons. Each fish was beautiful. They were pale and translucent. They each looked like they had rainbows painted under their skin. Like the sharks, they gracefully swam about side by side all day. Not only were these rainbow fish beautiful, but they were also huge. I did not usually see fish that large so close to the shore. Each fish was probably the size of my torso, and I am not petite. They were approximately two feet long and fifteen inches tall, modestly guessing. They were bigger than the sharks. I even wondered what would happen if the pairs met?