New Year's Eve?

 I'm not doing anything special. The year will change over with or without my participation. Last year I picked a word 'Explore' for the year. I did a pretty good job at that and am hoping to continue Exploring both the natural world around me and the Still Life world of Photography and Toys. 

Sometimes I'll combine both.

I have stuff on my 'to do' list. But I'm not making a solid commitment to the Stuff. 

I will commit to just one day at a time. 

And...wait for it!!!!

My son Eddie and his wife Megan brought Aurora Ivy into this world on Wednesday the 27th. I cannot wait to meet her! They said they will call her Rory. All is well with them and Rory and they are taking time to get to know each other right now. Soon enough they said they would come and visit us so we can meet her.

I think that is such a kind act since Rich can't travel.

I can't think of much that really.

I leave you with the last of December's colors that I found

And...
Charlie, Mr. Intense watching for squirrels, chipmunks, and hawks....

he also wishes a safe and quiet New Year's Eve.

Shinrin-yoku

 ....

I have a standing 'date' so to speak with a young mom who also works full time. We meet on Tuesdays and go for a walk. 

This time we went back to the Mason Land. I'm not sure why it is called that, perhaps because someone named Mason may have owned it. The land was passed down through family ties. Anyway, it is there and we went back to it today.

We just walk and brush bust and look for interesting things. We wander in the woods, collecting burrs on our clothes and ducking branches. 

We were searching for fungi after the rain we had yesterday. And we found some. Mostly it was either dried up stuff or tiny little fungi blooming in the moisture from the rain.

There was an old chair we found tipped upside down at the base of an old towering oak tree. I flipped it over and proclaimed it to be Olive's new Remote Work Office.

She gave me a look and then laughed and sat in the chair and posed like this:

I told her that I loved to find old chairs that hunters have left in the woods for selfies. Why not? 

[Years before those fancy fold up hunting chairs were invented, hunters brought out old metal chairs and set them in the woods. Heck, that may have even been before tree stands were invented! Tree Stands? I have my own opinion on them...but I won't write about it here. I wrote about THAT in 2010 A Hateful Woman or Stupid Man Invented Tree Stands.]

Here I am in my New Office:

Yeah, in case you are wondering, we don't wear our good clothes while rummaging through the wild woods. 

Good conversation and laughter are things we both need. She as a young mom and a hard worker, me? Well,... you know me.

We take this time once a week to goof off for about an hour or so. 

We explore. Laugh. Point out strange and odd things.

We found Yellow Fairy Cup Fungi:

Witch's butter:

Woods Ear or Amber Jelly Roll:

Shaggy Scaly Caps:

The little Lego dude says -- don't eat this!

We found lots of these mainly on Boxelder Trees.

Fungi we found that was neat but I couldn't ID it at all. 

Not Chicken of the Woods:

We did find Hen of the Woods.

I cannot believe I didn't photograph it, but I was distracted by the amazing scene and took photos of the oak that had Hen of the Woods at its base. Maybe because the fungi was old and dried up and...well, looked just nasty!

This rock formation looks like a granite pile of huge rocks. Almost like the earth below thrusted it up in the middle of the woods.

Olive and I want to come back and explore the rocks one day. 

Both of us have to admit that a little bit of outdoor play time or forest time is essential for a good state of mind.

A little shinrin-yoku goes a long way.

Shinrin-yoku is the Japanese saying for Forest Bathing or simply immersing yourself in nature for your health.

The Creek Bottom after a Flash flood

I looked out the window as soon as daylight broke and used the binoculars to read the rain gauge.
3.25 inches of rain on the dot.

And water was running like crazy everywhere. My smart phone gave me an alert that flash flooding was occuring in my area. 
Be still my heart! 

Our house is not situated in an area that would be in danger from a flash flood. Our driveway suffers washouts, the creek gets cleansed of all those nasty weeds, and some places do wash in the pastures...but our house? We were not in danger of rising creeks or flash floods.

However. I love a good gully washer. Or should I say I love the aftermath of a good gully-washer/flash flood.

Alas. My poor heart. I had tomatoes to can. My feet however where itchy to go out and see what the gushing waters looked like.

I finished canning the tomatoes, and then proceeded to work on clear coating the Wainscott chair rail wood in the dining area.

Then it was time. I donned my 'woods' pants, 'woods' shirt, camera bag, rubber chore boots...and of course Morris and went to explore. I had promised Rich that it would be a short walk.

Oh what torture that was.

Earlier this year, the creek was not visible due to the amount of Jewel Weed and other weeds that choked the creek bottom.

A few flash floods and gully washers have set things back to normal. 
And I can gleefully look for cool rocks.

And I can find the odd balls rocks. The ones I believe are iron concretions and come in some very strange shapes.

The water was cold that came down the creek from above. Briefly, the sun came out and there was a thin layer of fog on top of the creek water.

It was eerie but amazing at the same time. Cold air and warm air met. Fog in a thin layer oozed across and towards myself and Morris.

Morris and I only hiked a small portion of the creek. 

We hiked enough to know that I wanted to follow the creek down the valley to where it meets up with Black Bottom Creek.

I looked at my watch. Time to get back home. I had work to do inside the house and the sun had come out. It would be a hot and sticky walk home.

I dipped my hands and my baseball cap in the 'new' pond and cooled off before heading up the ridge road towards home.

Morris trotted ahead of me, eager to get home and out of the heat also.

However I was stopped dead in my tracks by some incredible jelly fungi that glistened in the sunlight.

I sure want to get back into the woods and explore the valley.

Alas. Today is Crab Apple Jelly Making Day with the Neighbor.

I promised to show her how to make jelly. Both our households love jelly and homemade jelly.

Tomorrow looks to be promising though.

Fog in the morning and nice temperatures.

Perhaps I can convince my darling hubby to let me off clear coat duty for a couple of hours to explore the valley.

How I love to explore!