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Some of the sidewalks along the Strand date back to the 1800s. The streets in many intersections reveal red paving bricks; the old sidewalks that remain are brick or slate. In places they are uneven with the wear of thousands of feet that have traveled down that street and can be treacherous if you don’t watch where you’re going. But, unlike the concrete that is gradually replacing the old stone and brick, they have a charm all their own.

Early one morning I was heading east along Strand, just after the fog had lifted, and the slate sidewalk was absolutely shining with dew. Footprints from the morning’s pedestrian traffic were still visible, but would not be for long. 

Sometimes you just happen to be in the right spot at the right time. Last weekend, I was driving around out on the west end of the island, when I spotted a very fit-looking Angus cow eyeing the fresh grass on the road side of the barbed wire fence that contained her. A little Cattle Egret was watching her as she carefully poked her head between the barbed strands. I pulled my car over to the side, opened the window on the passenger side, pulled out my trusty point-and-shoot digital camera and quickly took a shot before the bird was spooked off. In the second or so between pushing the shutter button and the time the camera finishes its record, the cow swung her head around to return the egret’s gaze. There was only time for the one shot, no time to adjust for the contrast between the white egret and the blackness of the cow, no time to think about anything except speed. The result is not an excellent photograph, but I find it a very amusing one. And given the rapidity with which condominiums are taking over what little ranch land there is on the island, it may shortly become a record of the local extinction of both the cow and her winged friend.