Near disaster

The life of the freelance photojournalist is filled with all sorts of exciting assignments and today's was the height of joy: go to the supermarket to pick up cat litter. En route, I decided to stop at the parking area of the Avalonia Land Conservancy's section of the Bell Cedar Swamp to see if I could find a trail into the wetland. I was also hoping to spot some dragonflies that might be sunning themselves in the vegetation on the sides of the road. The odes were elsewhere, so I plunged into the White Pine forest that soon gives way, when the ground gets wetter, to Atlantic White Cedars. Good thing I was paying attention to my meanderings because I might have walked right into this White-faced Hornet nest, which was head-head on a pine bough. That kind of too-close encounter would have ruined my walk. Once I stopped hyperventilating, I took the "almost" part of the scenario as an omen which convinced me that I really should abandon the trek and get back on task. Our felines were needy, after all.