Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Solitude On My Deck. #3
Good morning and Happy Saturday to everyone! Welcome back to the solitude on my deck. Time for a cup of coffee, sit back, relax and enjoy the sights and sounds of solitude today. Of course we will just forget about the bear which might come pounding up onto the deck at any moment and destroy this nice tranquility. After all, thinking about him would definitely take away from the solitude enjoyed out here.
So, with that in mind, why don’t we travel back to a nice lake that my friend and I visited on Thursday morning. Thus we can enjoy our solitude without the bear bothering us. The lake was somewhat calm when we got there, a little earlier I am sure it was like a mirror. It is so beautiful when lakes are like that. But anyway, it was still very nice and just a little wind starting up to ruffle the surface of the lake.
Birds were singing all around us, cedar waxwings were in abundance. They are a beautiful bird but they love to hide among the branches of trees which makes it difficult to get pictures of them. They were undoubtedly in this location because of the apple and cherry blossoms. They love to eat the flower petals, especially on apple trees. It does not hurt the apple production however, but those petals must be very healthy to eat, at least for the birds.
I know the petals can be dried and added to herbal tea mixes that you can make yourself. Anyway, I was unable to get any pics of these birds that day, but I already have some nice pics of them. However, it is always nice to try and get more, it is always possible to get an even better photo. There were some large bees and wasps flying about in the apple tree but they also were not cooperating that day. I did however, get some nice pics of flower flies at another lake, but that will be for a different time.
I did finally get some beautiful pics of a Canadian Tiger Swallowtail butterfly. I have tried since getting a camera 4 years ago and only managed to get a couple of more distant photos. I will show that at a later time as well. Plus there were several nice wildflowers in bloom though I missed one that I was really hoping to get, the pink ladyslipper. Three of them had already finished blooming. I really thought they might bloom a little later this year, a number of other wildflowers are blooming a bit later than normal.
Some people were on the lake fishing while we were there. This is a good lake for fishing and this part of the lake is just a small bay really. The lake is quite large with numerous islands. Usually there are loons in this bay but I did not see or hear any that day. That was too bad, I was hoping to get some loon photos. Perhaps another time. But sitting beside the lake certainly is tranquil, a true place of solitude.
It is wonderful to sit there looking out over the lake and drink in all that beauty, enjoying every sight and sound, breathing in each scent. That truly is solitude at its best. I do hope you will enjoy the photos today, mostly of the lake, but I just had to show more of that beautiful cherry tree as my featured photo today. Thank you so much for joining us, have a most wonderful weekend everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. The Icelandic Mystery. Chapter 5. Lodge Guests.
Baldwin and the others flew across in one of his private jets, this one being rather large. Along with Baldwin came Rock, Kristina, Mriya, Baldwin’s bodyguard Benson and Salka. Benson is a fairly large man, though not like Rock, and is very quiet, but he knows his job well and that is that no one touches Baldwin unless they kill him first. He knows how to use any kind of handheld weapon, always carries at least 2 guns and is an expert knife thrower.
Salka is our new team secretary and is of Icelandic descent though she has never been to Iceland. She does speak the language fluently however and knows a lot about the country. Baldwin thought she was ready to go on a case and might be quite helpful on this particular one. Annelie agreed with him. Salka and Annelie have become very good friends.
Back to us… “Is Muffin in here too?”, asked Kat. “No, I have not seen her,” I said, “I thought she was with you girls. Okay cats, go find Muffin quickly.” Off they went out the back door which Kat had left open. “You are a very good therapist Muffin,” said Sigurbjorn, “I feel so much better talking with you.” Meow,meow.=Now we be friends so not need to be sad anymore. And all of us be friends with you. Maybe you like to come home with us too.
Sigurbjorn smiled at Muffin, “I think that would be wonderful Muffin, but only if your humans will say that it is okay.” That is when MC and Storm found them. Meow?=Why you hide back here? Meowr.=Your human say to come look for you. Meow,meow.=I not hide, I just spend time with new friend Sigurbjorn. “Why can I understand you, but not the other two?”, Sigurbjorn asked Muffin with a puzzled look on her face.
Meow,meow.=That because they boys and kinda slow making friends. Sigurbjorn laughed, “okay, maybe we should go back to your human so he does not worry about you.” So off they went back inside. “So, there you are, you good for nothing trash!,” yelled Mikkael at Sigurbjorn, “what have you been telling these people?” Then he got up to walk towards her but Jennifer stood between them. “I will not stop her this time,” I told Mikkael, “so sit down and relax while we talk.”
He did so rather reluctantly. Muffin came over to me and whispered something. “Okay,” I began again, “now tell me why someone killed your son. These people are obviously here now and I would say you are in serious trouble with them.” “Okay, fine,” he began, “I was a bodyguard for someone important, plus I was an enforcer. Things were good until I got caught doing something you just don’t do in those circles. So they killed our son.
We left NYC and came out here figuring they would forget about us and leave us alone. But I was wrong.” “Are you not even a little upset that your son was killed because of you?”, asked Kat. He shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, it is too bad,” he said without any feeling, “but I cannot do anything about it.”
Right then a car drove up with Baldwin and team, but they pretended not to know us. Baldwin in his usual fashion managed to push his way in though he did not have a reservation. Mikkael was happy to let them stay anyway since the place was completely empty except for us, and we were not exactly paying guests. I asked Sigurbjorn if she would come to our room with Kat, Muffin and myself.
She said yes and off we went. “I hope you will not think badly of Muffin,” I said, “but she told me about losing your family and I think that is related to this case.” She looked puzzled, “how could that be related to what is going on here?” “Well, it happened 5 years ago,” I said, “what month was it, if you do not mind talking about it?” Muffin jumped up on her lap, curled up and purred.
“Muffin is so beautiful, and obviously very smart, getting me to talk about things,” she started, “it was in June that it happened and in July I had the offer to work here.” Meow,meow.=Oh, me not delib, uh, delib ratedly try to get information, honest. Me just trying to be friends, but I catch what you say as important so I tell my human. I hope you not mad at new friend Muffin.
Sigurbjorn smiled at her, “no, I could not be angry with you Muffin, and thank you for explaining to me.” “When Muffin says she is your friend, then she means every word,” said Kat, “and we will be your friends too.” “That is for sure,” I said, “you can always count on our friendship, even if you decide not to tell us anything more. We understand any information you give us could make things dangerous for you.” “I do not mind that, and I will help in any way I can,” she said to us.
To Be Continued.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 