Naturalist At Play

Day 161: For the way today started, the posts I have planned for the next several days will seem rather anti-climactic. You see, I decided to pay my favourite Skunk Cabbage bog a visit today, and while I was there, it occurred to me to take a selfie of the Naturalist At Play. Like any good photographer, I take several shots of the same subject in order to assure myself of having one good one, and in this particular case, I tried for one too many. I was already sinking in almost to the tops of my wellies and when I misjudged and stepped on the same soft spot twice, my right leg went into the mud to knee-depth and I toppled at the moment the shutter clicked (middle photo shows my leg). It's amazing how much thought you can pack into the short time it takes you to fall in slow motion. You realize that because your leg is encased in mud, your muscles are not able to make it respond to the change in balance as it normally would. The motion is inhibited, and since you probably haven't had a lot of practice coping with this particular scenario, the muscles react in the only manner they know. In other words, once you start going over, you don't have the slightest chance of being able to compensate. The only thing you can do is resign yourself to the inevitable and hope for something better than the worst possible outcome. As it was, I only sat down in the bog rather than falling on my back (something I've done previously). Undeterred, I continued on my adventure, the results of which will be featured over the next several days.