Ankeny

It was late evening and the sun was setting a golden shimmer over the refuge - it took my breath away.  Feeling like a trespasser on a private moment where the sun made sweet love to the glistening water and grassy meadow, my heart tightened and swelled with pulsing love for this place.
I chose to walk without camera or binoculars tonight.  Somehow, the sweet torture of using only my own senses to identify and remember magnified my impulses.  I felt moments of anxiety - wanting to see a bird more closely, wanting to capture the exquisite sunset, wanting wanting wanting.  It was annoyingly gorgeous.  I wanted to share it with the world, I wanted to keep it all wrapped in a bottle in my soul.  The swell of passion left me giddy, excited, humbled.  Awe for this world, this life, this love is the fine grains of sand filling my spirit and aching to share a grain with you.

With my phone I took these two shots:
My FIRST ever turtle spotting on the refuge!!

Happiness: