Today I was walking with my neighbor when we could hear tundra swans out on the lake. They sound a little like puppies yelping. I said, "They must be migrating through!" and we went out on the pier, but we couldn't really see them. Then we saw another neighbor who lives on the lake, and when I asked if she had heard the tundra swans, she said they had a telescope in their living room set up to look right at them. She invited us over, so we looked at the swans. I told Travalon we might be able to see them from Governor Nelson State Park, so we went down to the beach there, and he took some photos.
Then I suggested that we go to Picnic Point, because last year lots of swans gathered in the bay next to it, so we went there and walked along the Lakeshore Path to a spot where we got a really good view of a total bird party. If you check out these photos, there are adult (white) and juvenile (gray) swans, Canada geese, mallard ducks, bufflehead ducks, and even gulls.
As Travalon was taking photos and I was looking through our binoculars at the swans, a couple passed by on the path and looked at us curiously. I said, "Tundra swans! Want to take a look?" and held out the binoculars, and just then the woman and I recognized each other under all our layers of cloths - it was the Turkish instructor from my department! So she looked at the swans through the binoculars.
Then Travalon and I drove to Sauk to look for eagles. I saw one while we were driving, but we didn't see any at the dam or the VFW Park. Travalon took some photos of the scenery, including the bluff across the river that has been featured on this blog numerous times in the summer and autumn. Now you can see what it looks like in the winter.
We drove a little way on Highway 60 and took Skunk Valley Drive, a scenic road. We also pulled off on a turnaround on Highway 60 and took a picture of Fairy Bluff and "Berrigan" Bluff from the other side. This bluff must have a real name - someone has a private driveway that goes up the side of it.
Then we came back to town and looked at Christmas lights. Richard Bonomo had mentioned a house on Randall just south of Regent that is lit up like a gingerbread house, and we found it.
Speaking of Christmas lights, here is our church decorated for Christmas. I don't know why all the lights are blue; when I used to help decorate the church, we had multi-colored lights, but now the Mexicans decorate it. I think they should have left the decorations up for the festivities of Our Lady of Guadalupe, because those were red, white, and green like the Mexican flag... and what I think of as traditional Christmas colors. Does anyone know if blue is a traditional Christmas color in Mexico?
And this is Ma Hat's Christmas tree. I don't know what happened to all the homemade ornaments that used to be on the Christmas tree when I was a kid, but I do remember that light-up angel always being on the top.
Travalon and I also stopped by the Christmas House on Colony Drive. It has its own radio station, and the light show starts at five. We got there just before it started. Here are three short videos.
I kind of preferred this house when the light show wasn't so elaborate, and it just had really colorful lights. I have featured photos and movies of it on this blog over the years, if you would like to compare and contrast.
Famous Hat
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