Holiday Scenery

I do love my holidays and weekends.  My parents live about an hour and a half away from us.  But we like to go there whenever it is convienent.  Our place is fairly country.  There is a field behind our house and plenty of wild life.  But my folks truly live in the country.  They live down a long dirt road with only family living down there, as well.  Their land is surrounded by water on all three sides.  Occasionally there are deer around, and once in a great while a black bear splashes out of the water.  The fishing there is just great!  We catch tons of Speckled Trout, Puppy Drum, Sting Rays, and Black Drum.  Sometimes we catch Blue Fish and Flounder.  The creek surrounding the house is Wrights Creek and is a big estuary.  Sea Hawks build nests around to raise young, and in the summer the dolphins swim up in the creek chasing bait fish.  We even catch large shrimp in the cast nets and Blue Crabs in crab pots during the summer.  Seafood is a staple for us.  This is the wonderful place that I have always spent my holidays.  And it is where we will be spending our Christmas, as well.  I thought I'd share some pics I took out there this past weekend.

From the creek, looking out into the Pamlico River.  That bouy marker is often topped with an Osprey nest in the summer and filled with a chick or two.

From the front yard, looking out across the creek.  There's marsh land in the little cove, home to all sorts of wild life.

Several wild Mallard ducks skid across the creek in back of the house.

From the pier, looking out across the creek at the tall pines and marshland.

In the back yard, the sun was shining through the tall pines.  It looked so cool on the camera screen, I just had to snap a pic.  I forgot who recently posted a snippet of Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken, but this reminded me of it...my all-time favorite poem.

A marsh snail climbing a branch of a Waxed Myrtle.  When I was a kid I kept an aquarium with these in it.

A crab boat cruising into the creek.

I thought it was a Sea Hawk, but it turned out to just be a Buzzard.  It looked cool soaring in the cloudless, blue sky.

Another Mallard (f) smimming behind the marsh grass.

A final shot of those beautiful wild Mallards.  I love it here.  It's so peaceful.  It's so....HOME!!