OOPS!

 Linking to ALL SEASONS;   MOSAIC MONDAY,  NATURE NOTES, OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY, WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY, SIGNS SIGNS, and a tiny bit of fence in the top right collage picture for Theresa's final GOOD FENCES .   Thank you to all of the hosts.

 

And thanks to everyone for the thoughtful comments on last week's post.  It helps to talk things over with friends — virtual as well as in real life.   As you'll read below, I'm a little bit slow with my visits and replying, but I will get there.  

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!   This is an urban wild turkey  spotted  a week ago Sunday just a few blocks from our mid-town apartment.  

 

I know these birds do well in this part of Oregon, but have to admit I was surprised to see one this close to the City center/downtown mall. 

 

She didn't seem at all worried about ending up on the dinner table — and in fact is probably safer living on downtown streets this time of year than out in the country.  

 

The turkey was the first thing I took a picture of that afternoon.  I'd gone out for a short photo/exploration walk, with the main  goal being to figure out the sign below.  

 

We'd spotted it on the side of a building below the Ferry Street Bridge  – one of the main city connectors — earlier in the week.  And wondered what we'd missed.

 Because why would there be a sign with just a picture of a falling girl.  But there was nothing else on the sign.  

Just the girl falling.    

Or maybe she's diving.  

Or floating through the air.  

 

 

 

But I'm going with 'falling' as a symbol.   Because just a few minutes after I'd taken her picture, and obviously while my mind was still on the puzzle,  I tripped over a curb — and splatted flat on the sidewalk  –  could have been worse  I suppose, except for the fact that I caught myself on both hands.  My fall was not nearly so graceful.

Besides various scrapes and bruises, I broke and dislocated one little finger and twisted and bruised bones on my other wrist.

I was thankful I had my cell phone to call Bill  (a  driver crossing the street beside me kindly stopped to offer help but as soon as I saw that my cell wasn't crushed, I told him help was only minutes away).  

We certainly didn't spend the rest of that Sunday evening the way we'd planned!  Without going into all the boring details I'll just tell you that Sunday afternoon is definitely  not a good time to visit Urgent Care or the Emergency Ward here in Eugene and our  hours spent in those places were fruitless.   We didn't really get anything done until we visited an Orthopedic clinic on Monday.   Now, my finger is strapped, making keyboarding difficult and both hands get tired.   (It's a little easier on the IPAD where I can use the stylus, but my pictures are here on the laptop.)  Tomorrow afternoon (Monday) I'll find out if I will need surgery.  

Bill has been waiting on me literally hand and foot — the two things I still can't manage at all are tying my shoes and fixing the strap around my hand.

 Below are some examples of urban nature taken on my walk 'before the fall.'

 

 

So besides the things I always give thanks for, this Thanksgiving Week I'm especially grateful that nobody is depending on me to cook the feast — grateful that we will be with our family.  And I'm grateful for a patient and helpful husband.  And that my fall didn't completely ruin my point-and-shoot camera or damage my cell phone … those two necessities of life.