summer

Melissa and I pulled into the parking lot at the Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge. It was a planned stop on our way to Lincoln City to shop at the outlet mall, a convenience we don’t have in the small town we live in: brand names, a number of choices, good prices. 

The parking lot was empty and a light rain began to fall.  We packed up a bit of food and water and our raincoats. Before hiking in the hill, we stopped at the posted map to get our bearings. The trail meandered its way through a few trees which opened up to another meadow where we found two deer grazing. 

The deer looked toward us.

Melissa and I looked toward them.

The rain stopped, the rain started, I was not sure how many times.

The deer lowered their heads and continued to graze.

We turned our heads and continued our hike and entered forest.

under the canopy
on one side of the trail
sitting on a felled tree

Getting up from the bench, we entered the store.

While browsing the shirt rack my eyes glance up.

Two other shoppers, their eyes glance up.

We shared a causal conversation, not sure how long.

They lowered their eyes and continued shopping.

I lowered my eyes, sliding a few shirts hangers along the rail. 

I purchased a shirt and a pair of hiking pants and joined Melissa. As we were leaving the store, a shopper heading in held the door open for us.  Melissa and I both shared a thank you. Before moving on, we made our way to our car in the overflow parking lot to drop off our purchases.

the canopy hums
on the trail holding her hand-
raindrops on stained glass