Talking to Strangers

Recently, Roger and I broke with tradition and went out to meet two fellow bloggers one week, and then some local folks who comment on our blog the following week. We were, of course, full of trepidation. We've read their blogs, and the emails sent by people we don't know in "real life," and even though we found their writing delightful, we wondered if we'd be disappointed by the real thing. Now, I wouldn't be writing this if I had to report that the bloggers Phil and Isabelita were wacky people who we'd be afraid to meet again. Nope, they were as charming, interesting, and full of insight and humor as they are on their respective blogs. We met them in Seattle (we finally ventured in a few weeks ago to look for tile for our kitchen), and had a great lunch on the waterfront with them. We picked up right where blogging leaves off. The conversation went from family to politics to kayaking; from novels to birdwatching to cameras. We were meeting old friends for the first time, and it was good. In fact we hope to meet up again here on the peninsula and do some serious hiking with them. (Above photo taken when Phil and Isabelita showed us how to get out of town, and let us pull in front of them when we wound up in the wrong lane.)
So, fresh with that experience in our blood, we thought we'd try again with Dawn and Rich. Dawn comments on our blog, and sends us emails with lots of photos of wildlife. She's a great photographer, and my personal call for reference when I need to ID a bird. We planned a meet-up with her and her husband for a minus tide walk on Saturday. Lucky us, we had another really excellent time. They turned out to be easy-going and relaxed people who could spend hours looking at wildlife. They are practiced watchers with very keen eyes. They spotted three deer so far down the beach that I could barely see them even after they were pointed out. Dawn has a great camera, which she let Roger use on our walk. Wow wow wow. Roger got the absolute best eagle pic that either one of us has ever shot (definitely click on above photo). We wanted to continue the walk all the way to the mouth of the Chimacum Creek, but the wind kicked up fiercely, so instead of having the picnic lunch we prepared for the beach, we came back to our house to eat in comfort.
After lunch, we showed them around the yard, and Dawn pointed out the Golden-crowned sparrows that were flitting around the raspberry vines. Sometimes all it takes is a fresh pair of eyes to see what's been right in front of us all along.

After these two experiences, I think I can safely say that we'd be delighted to meet all the bloggers on our blogroll, and everyone who comments here. The quality of hearts and minds that we meet on these pages comes as close as anything to restoring our confidence in humanity.