It's Still Winter Here...

Today I was introduced to a couple of the residents here - they live in the Annex and sleep from the ceiling!

These are Little Brown Bats - that's really their name (or, Myotis lucifugus). 1 As long as we're quiet, they don't mind a quick visit.
Check out those adorable toes they are holding themselves up with.

In a beautiful patch of old-growth forest, we settled on the wet moss to watch a newt lumber like the slowest wind-up toy, like a dinosaur, through the undergrowth.

Looking up to 80-meter trees, I see white sleet hanging from the sky. It has been a strange winter this year - first an early thaw, then, after several days of warm sunshine, and shortly before I arrived, a snowstorm that has stayed, and stayed, and stayed. It will be interesting to compare this to other years - although since I have never been here for more than a few days at a time, I have no sense of normality.


Everything here is new to me! The chance to get to know this place on a more intimate level is something for which I will be thankful forever. Already I am learning to look at the world in a different way. <>

1. Peterson Field Guide to Mammals