In the end - I thought - it's really the little bits of color and beauty and light that I'm seeking. It's thosevery little bits that remind me that I'm awake..alive..present...aware.

In the end - it's just a moment in time that I'm holding quiet and still thru my camera's lens.

The day's dull grey is suddenly glowing bright and iredescent. Green heads..yellow beaks..the orangest of orange webbed feet.

Was it an intimate conversation I'd walked in on? Are they a couple of handsome young boys..in search for their mates? Are they old friends reuniting after time apart and away?

Or ..and much more likely - they're just a couple of ordinary mallards...doing what they so ordinariily do. Maybe they showed up to remind me that what it is I'm looking for. A little color...a little beauty...a little laughter and light. A little tenderness...a little kindness...a little love.

Yes - I concluded. That's what they are. A couple of extraordinary ducks on this very ordinary...mostly colorless day.