Snapping turtle

The River’s Edge

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At-the-Edges3The river ice is breaking up slowly. Shifting a little everyday in the sun and wind and really coming open where there are strong undercurrents. I was a little surprised to see this snapping turtle floating at the frayed edges of the ice, able to lift its head for air but otherwise shifting with the water like a piece of driftwood, too cold to move. It’s been a long winter for everybody and spring has been tentative. We have land now, though. Earth, mud, grit and weathered grasses. The snow is mostly gone, we are just waiting on the river…

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© Karen McRae, 2014

Always Wear Your Rubber Boots

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There are days where you head out to try to work on a specific idea, and then there are days where that doesn’t happen at all, and you have to just follow your intuition.
And when something in the back of your mind tells you to bring along your rubber boots, you listen. Because you never know what might call you into the water. What might be waiting there for you to come along.
And although, whoever might be waiting there, regards you with suspicion; they may make allowances for your curiosity. Probably just this once.






An early season, slow-moving snapping turtle, sunning himself almost unflinchingly, while I gently talked his ear off. I think we bonded.
I have had other encounters with snapping turtles that were quite different, you can see another post here.

I am extremely grateful to WordPress for selecting drawandshoot.me for their blog post: 8 Gorgeous Nature blogs for Earth Day  Wow! I’m honoured. Thank you.

All images © Karen McRae