Happy Friday. I was finally able to get a clear shot of the cygnets last evening on my way out-of-town.  I was shooting directly into the sun but they have been very elusive of late so I’m happy to get any type of shot.  They seem to be healthy and adapting to their shrinking habitat.  It is comforting to see that the parents are never very far away from them.  The father is just out of the frame but close enough to render assistance if needed.  The mother is never more than a few feet away.

Yesterday was the first day of a ten week class on leadership I’m teaching.  I have 20 participants in the class and they are a dynamic and engaged group of young leaders.  Ten of them are from our organization and ten from outside our organization.  So it is a great mix of backgrounds and promises to be an enriching experience for me and I hope for them.

I had a series of unrelated small catastrophes happen yesterday that presented some unexpected challenges for me before the class started.  One of which was the fact that for the first time since acquiring them I actually went off without my hearing aids.   I was more than halfway to Maquoketa when I realized I didn’t have them.  I slowed to turn around then remembered my appointment schedule and realized there simply was not enough time to go back home and retrieve them.

Now the classroom we are using  has three rows of tables and so I am about 20 from the back row and that made hearing people nearly impossible.  Plus there is a certain range of sound that I cannot hear period.  If I were on the fence about my hearing aids before yesterday that indecision has been put to rest.  It was awful not being able to clearly hear what people were saying.  I really didn’t realize how much I had been missing until I didn’t have them yesterday.  WOW!

Wedding shoot coming up tomorrow.  Say a little prayer for me.  🙂  Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day (off)  and be careful.