You know the saying, "black dog on my shoulder?" Well this week I have been chased by my own personal rain cloud. The literal wet weather that seemed ceaseless provoked an equally gloomy mood for me. Even the day we took these pictures was a struggle. Towards the end of it we headed out to a nearby park; the ground was wet and my shoes got soaked through. At first it was the icing on the cake of an already difficult day--of course my toes are wet and cold now!--but then I kicked off my shoes, gathered a bit of cow parsley, and felt a bit lighter with each barefoot step. Nature always has the power to do that to you. We've seen some marvelous little scenes in the wild lately. There's always a few bees buzzing about and friendly robins, but recently we were also visited by a baby rabbit. He was hidden in a rhododendron bush and as we lingered he kept hopping out, nibbling on some greens, then hopping back to his hidey-hole. On a little island with friends the other week we nearly stumble over a baby fawn hidden amongst some ruins. It's always amazing what you will see when you take a moment to pause and let nature come back to life around you...