Laying Low

It's been awhile since I've posted, and today's post is a bit of a hodge podge of images, because I haven't really been taking many pictures lately.

I've been laying kind of low recently, mostly due to the fact that my upper back, neck and shoulders have been giving me fits, especially last week.  It's all due to the fact that we were rear ended a little over a year ago, and I have to say that is has had an unexpected effect on me over this past year.

I've always considered myself to be a pretty resilient person, but after the initial soreness from the event itself, I began to suffer long term effects which still linger on.

I went to physical therapy last winter, and it helped, but like with most injuries, it didn't take me back to the point before we were in the accident.

Little things that I had always taken for granted...like riding on an airplane to Europe, weeding my garden, sitting at the computer processing pictures, and even holding my long lens...all things I had never thought twice about before, began reminding me that I had been in an accident.

It was one of the reasons I quit blogging early last year.  I was at a loss for words then, but I was also at a loss for taking pictures and sitting at the computer processing them the way I had always enjoyed doing.

It's a bummer when things like this happen, and to be honest, I know I am one of the lucky ones, because it can always be worse.

I does get me down sometimes, and I have found that I now have to pace myself in ways I never had before.  I grab my tripod more frequently, and that means less photos, because sadly, wildlife doesn't wait for you to set up a tripod.

But it does make me appreciate my body and what I can do even more now, and I don't take anything for granted anymore...not even a little.

On the days when I do feel pretty good, I go outside with my telephoto and shoot until the aches and pains make me stop.

And though I spend far less time shooting and processing, I hope that means that the things I do capture are even more meaningful to me now.

All the shots in this post were taken over a period of about a week.  Before the accident I would have taken them all in one day, and processed them that very night.  But maybe I wouldn't have appreciated each one as much, or wanted the time I spent processing them to reflect as closely what I wanted them to if I hadn't had to take numerous breaks and stretch out my muscles.

This morning the eagles were having a literal field day with something they found interesting in the newly mown fields next door.  They were too far away to really capture any good images, but they were swooping and fighting for whatever it was and bullying the vultures out of the way as they feasted.

The juvenile above stayed put long enough for me to set up and get as close as I could with my telephoto.  He appears to be coming in to adulthood fairly soon, and he has mostly white head feathers, unlike his relative two pictures up.

I hope you all have had a good few weeks...the weather is starting to feel very fall like...and I think I kind of like it!