A lovely woman

Yesterday at lunchtime I went down to the river. I missed getting a picture of the large snake swimming across the river, because I didn't have the camera ready and it was too fast for me. I think it might have seen me coming. That was probably the snake I kicked a few weeks ago. That was probably why it was in such a hurry to cross the river.

I got a picture of the egret, though, who was fishing.


And a butterfly. There were a lot of these butterflies.


Also, there was a cormorant, trying to run on water.


And I took a picture of a duck. There are always ducks. If there were no ducks, it would feel wrong.


In the afternoon after I'd finished work, I was walking out to the bicycle parking lot when I heard some students calling to me from across campus. They were some of my students from last year.

"BADAUNT!" they screeched, excitedly.

"HELLO!" I shouted back. "HOW ARE YOU TODAY?"

They had forgotten how to answer that one. Instead, they bellowed, surprisingly,

"BADAUNT, YOU ARE A LOVELY WOMAN!"

"Er ... um ... THANK YOU!" I replied. I wondered where they had learned that one, and felt rather embarrassed. Why couldn't they just greet me in a normal way?

Then I thought, But of course! It's because I AM a lovely woman! Why wouldn't they want to say so?

And then I blew myself a huge raspberry.

Nap time

Duck tact

"I can't see properly . . . "


"Does my bum look big in this?"



"Do I have to answer that?"

New duck

There is a new duck on the block. Either that, or this is a penguin, tipping forward and sneakily pretending to be a duck.

It seemed a bit lonely. The other, ordinary ducks were further down the river.