I looked in every nook and cranny of my little acre of woods for new fungus and forgot my glasses were on top of my head, which is where I put them to see anything up close, in this case the camera screen. Focus is really tricky with my little camera in macro mode, and my glasses distort up close. Anyway, off I go, ducking under branches, rooting aroung in the woods in a very random fashion. I started cleaning up some brush piles, stacking some downed limbs, taking the occasional picture and throwing the occasional tennis ball for the dog. About an hour later, I realized my glasses were no longer on my head. I panicked. I'm blind as a bat two feet away from my face without them, and my old pair make me woozy. So I looked for them. Retraced my steps, tried to remember every fallen log and deer scat pile I walked past. Came inside, loaded my pics, so I could retrace my steps. Went back out. Stared at the ground for almost 3 more hours. Took lots more pictures, just for fun. Daughter helped when she got home, then husband. No luck.
Went back outside this morning for an hour, working a grid system, really, really looking, hard at the ground. Got cold. Came inside, whined to my sister online about having to spend 300 more dollars for new glasses. Went back outside with my camera, took some more Oooooh pictures of wet lichens and fungus in the rain. Rewalked the place where I got whacked in the face with a branch the day before, sure they had to be near. Sat on a log, stared, took more pictures. I walked out by the road, where my brambles end to take a picture of some lichens. Stared some more. And there they were.
Can you see them? I took this picture before I found them!
Took me a while too. Right edge middle of the photo, hanging about 8 inches over the ditch, caught on a grape vine. If the lenses weren't covered with raindrops, I might never have found them. I had looked up, I had looked down, but I had not considered the possibility they were hanging just above the ground. I took this picture after:
Needless to say, my eyeballs ache from 2 days in the old glasses and 6 hours of staring. On the bright side, I learned my lesson, I got a really, really close look at my woods, and I got some awesome pictures. I'll share them next post.
