When you’re living your dream, over time your dream becomes normal life. It pays to stop and reflect on that once in a while. When you do it reminds you how special your dream is and how lucky you are.

Today we decided to treat ourselves. After the school run we treated ourselves to breakfast. Anton’s parking lot was empty, so empty we thought it might be closed. Fortunately, it was open, and the lack of customers meant we had the pick of the tables so I got one one with excellent light all the better to take some pictures of Ginger. 

After breakfast, we visited a couple of flea markets and then went down to Lake Springfield to check for ice with some kayaking in mind later in the week. We took a brief walk up to the bluffs where we were lucky enough to see a bald eagle, which took a bird or squirrel for its lunch. Ginger got a very close look at as it flew by the bluff – I missed it as I had my head in the camera. Later on, thanks to the generosity of one of the several birdwatchers down by the lakeside, we had a chance to see two bald eagles up close in a spotting scope.

Next stop for the day was Walmart, where I decided that a picture of us being nauseating in front of a Valentine’s day display of soft toys would make a good picture. The only trouble was the display was at the front of the store and very busy, I can’t imagine why. Ginger was most uncomfortable about my taking a picture there and refused to take part. Luckily I found another display still in one of the main thoroughfares but at least not opposite the checkouts. Shall we just say that there was a lack of enthusiasm for partaking in this picture by my embarrassed wife, and we did get some amused looks.

The day was rounded off with an evening of wine, cheese and a suitably romantic movie – Notting Hill.

Today’s alternate shots

Additional shots

Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.