The Kosmala Blog

It’s that time of year here in the Upper Midwest: Strawberry Season! Foxtail is rolling in these plump juicy wonders and I was out helping harvest on Wednesday. Yum!

Ben and I went for a lovely bike ride on Friday along the Gateway trail, which starts in St. Paul and heads northeast out towards Wisconsin. We saw lots of wildlife — all sorts of song and water birds, squirrels, rabbits, a deer, and this snapping turtle. She was in the middle of the bike path and was apparently contemplating crossing the major road before her. I tried picking her up and moving her to the nice-looking wetlands she had apparently just left. She didn’t want any of that, thrashing and trying to bite. I had to put her down to keep from dropping her, and so we left her here, at the edge of the bike path. When we biked the return leg of our trip, she was nowhere to be seen (and there was no mushed turtle in the road either).

Several weeks ago - over a month, really - I first saw the Albino Squirrel. I was working at home and there I have a nice view out the front, where I can keep an eye on the goings-on of the neighborhood. Well, all of a sudden this flash of white darted out into the street and I thought, “woah, I haven’t seen a white cat around here before.” But then I looked more closely and realized it was a squirrel. When I told Ben, he teased me, “yeah, sure. Of course you saw a white squirrel. They’re just everywhere.” Just like the abominable snowman. A couple days later, when I was again home alone, I saw the Squirrel a second time. When Ben teased me again, I named the squirrel Mr. Snuffleupagus. I would have to get a picture…

Of course, the next couple times I saw the Squirrel I was outside and sans camera. And somehow, despite riding his bike to and from school every day, the Squirrel never presented itself to Ben. Finally, last week, I saw the Squirrel from my window again, grabbed the camera and ran outside. The Squirrel was by the neighbor’s house, clambering in the plants and the bushes, before rushing off into the next yard. My best effort at a photograph was a shot of the side of the house, with a blurry half-hidden squirrel not quite visible. “There! There it is!” I proclaimed to Ben, showing him the picture. He looked at me skeptically. “That could be a squirrel…” he conceded. “Or a rock, or a plant, or litter.” I sighed. I was gaining compassion for those who have tried to photograph Yeti’s or UFO’s or Loch Ness Monsters. “The reason those are so hard to photograph,” Ben explained patiently, “is because they don’t exist.” Argh! I had to prove that the Albino Squirrel’s existence.

It wasn’t until this weekend when I went running and there in a neighbor’s yard, again, was the Squirrel. I ran back the half-block and grabbed the camera - and Ben, for this time he was home. Success on both fronts: Ben finally saw the Albino Squirrel and I got a couple good photos of it.

We traveled to Waukesha, WI this past weekend to attend the Midwest Sectional Championships. Margaret successfully defended her title from last year (scroll down to Women’s epee), to win the gold medal. Yay Marg!

While in Tucson, Ben and I made a day trip to Saguaro National Park.

See more photos of our trip on teamguava.