Low perspectives

The woods look pretty dreary and uninteresting right at the moment, but I still believe there can be interesting things found.

I grabbed my Nikon with the Nifty 50mm lens and decided to explore. The challenge is to not have a zoom focus but a fixed lens where you have to really think about getting the shot you want.

The shot of the creek bottom shows exactly how 'uninteresting' the woods appear to be. The shot of the Skunk Cabbage shows exactly how interesting the woods actually are!

When I came back from the woods, I found some crocus blossoms in the yard along with daffodils poking their brave stems out of the ground. I laid down in the yard to take some shots. There I was wiggling around trying to find the right composition, what did I see?

A little bug of some sort climbing around inside the crocus flower.  I peered at it after I took the shot and discovered that is was a very small bee and it was covered in pollen.

Imagine my surprise. If I stand up, the crocus plant is nearly impossible to spot. If one were to casually walk near the creek and not keep an eye out, they'd surely miss the Skunk Cabbage.

I'd place a skull next to the crocuses so that I could see them from further away and not step on them.
I was also surprised to see that a spider had climbed onto the skull!

And then there was the lone yellow crocus...it was very hard to find.

Yesterday some new crocuses came up and I didn't get out until the evening to get a shot of them while doing chores.

The daffodills are coming up around them and soon they will be gone. The daffy's will be the next blossoms to grace the yard.

Meanwhile out in the woods, under the debris I was able to see the very tips of Leeks just breaking the soil under the leaves.

They will come out when the weather is right.

The Robins however believe it is spring. This one sang the night song to me just before the sun blinked out of our hollow.

Lucky for me he perched on the branch long enough for me to attempt a shot.
This fit in my low perspective as he was higher than I was??

Well spring is coming and I believe I can say that I am looking forward to it. It was with deep regret that I put my cross country skis away yesterday and stored my snow shoes for next year.

Making excuses

To get out of the yard and into the woods.

Hubby decided to take his afternoon nap.  I nodded and said that I'd go look for some wild parsnip to dig down by the creek. I gathered a bucket, a shovel, and off I went.  Morris stayed home although I should have taken him with.

It was a good excuse to go wandering in the woods with my camera.  I found some really beautiful things.

Spring Beauties

The Spring Beauties were really abundant on the north east side of the hill not far down from the top of the ridge.  Of course I had to stop and look at them.  These plants are no more than a few inches tall and the flowers are smaller than a pencil eraser.

I walked further down the trail and then stopped and looked back at the top.  I sat down on the 'sitting' rock and decided to just sit for a moment and listen to the sounds of the forest.

I heard the Cardinal singing, off in the distance a Bluejay called. There were the regulars like the Sparrows, and the Robins had been in the forest for a while now.

I listened closely and off in the distance I could hear a Wood Thrush. There is nothing more beautiful than the Wood Thrush's echoing in the woods.  Just my personal opinion.

Hear it here:

Wood thrush song

The Trail view from the sitting rock, looking towards the ridge.

I grabbed my shovel and bucket and headed down the steep hill noting how dry everything looked and how crunchy the leaves were under my feet.  Even the squirrels sounded noisy as they chattered and ran.

I wandered around the creek bottom and stopped here and there with the shovel to remove some pesky plants that were coming up.  Wild Parsnip, although tasty are not plants that you want to get involved with in mid summer.  It's juices will give you a “phyto-photodermatitis”, which happens when the sap of the plant, from broken stems and leaves, touches the skin and is exposed to ultraviolet light (whether cloudy or sunny).

 Source: Wild Parsnips.

I don't want these plants in the areas that the kids and grand kids will hike with me.  We often go to an area called 'The Beach' which has very a very nice area of sand and the creek bottom is sandy as well.  It is withing hiking distance and makes for a fun place to cool off in the summer.

This is as bad as getting into poison ivy in my opinion or even worse.

Near 'The Beach'

The good thing is that the roots are tasty and edible.  I love cooking them flavored in pesto sauce.  It takes work, but it is well worth the taste.

When I got to 'The Beach', I found Horsetails coming up through the sand with wild parsnip.  

Horsetails, Mare Tail, Scour Reed, Pipes

I dropped the bucket and got to work, looking for some nice sized parsnip roots.

Nice sized roots got tossed into the creek so I could wash the sand off from them, others got carefully laid out on logs so the would dry up and die.  I stayed for quite a while digging and just being busy.  I was enjoying myself and thinking of hot summer days and dangling my barefeet into the cold creek.

I noticed as I started back towards home that it seemed time had gotten away from me.

The creek is so magical that I tend to get lost while there.  Lost in thoughts, memories, and the beauty that surrounds me.

However, I had the Val Barbie with me and thought I'd best get a shot of her and Doe for the next part of The Doe Story.

Val Barbie holds Doe close and gives her a hug.  Doe promises to come back to her friends before her birthday.  Something special will happen on that day assures Val Barbie.  "You must be with friends!"

Doe agrees.

However...

...all stories need a villain and here is the Villain Fox who overhears the conversation.  I think he plans on something evil.

Well I got home and back to reality.  I finished putting the mulch around the pine trees near the house and decided that I needed to go back to town and get some more.

I wonder what excuse I can make for getting out in the woods today?

Trying to keep it together

I love spring for many reasons.  Mostly because I enjoy not having to wear so many layers while hiking.  I do like spring for the simple fact that I can go out and find new things appearing from what looks like a barren forest floor.

Here the ferns are just emerging on the 16th from on top of a rock. The curls are nearly as small as a pencil eraser.
Next to them is a Virginia Waterleaf emerging.

My grand daughter went on a very early morning hike with me on Sunday morning.
The dew was still heavy on the grass in the valley.

And as we dipped into the steep valley we walked into areas that the morning sun hadn't even come to yet.

Eventually we made it to the Big Spring.  It is a spot that water comes from a hillside and adds to the existing creek.  The spring sports a beautiful morning delight for us.
Marsh marigold everywhere.

Ariel busies herself while I take several shots of the flowers.  She works on a story line for Doe Story with a Meerkat and Fox toy.

Our journey kept us going.  Ariel asked if we could try a another route home and I said we could.  We decided to go along the rock ravine and climb up to the old logging road.

We had more adventures, but I am going to stop this here. I've run out of time today and have to get ready for work.
I know that we had a great time though.

To be continued...

Oh Beautiful Spring

Because of our crazy schedule this spring, I haven't been able to take as many walks in the woods as I normally do.

Yet I did get an hour the other day to walk around and take a peek at what was happening in the woods.

The Apple Blossoms had started [now they are in full bloom!].

The Cherry Tree blossoms are amazing.

I really need to get back out and look for morels and see if the Trillium has opened up yet.

They were just sleeping on Monday afternoon, ready to awaken at any moment.

I'd found Jack in the Pulpits emerging from the woodland floor also.

And then we have the wonderful happy colors of yellow. They are beautiful and bright against the new green colors of the grass.

Yellow Rocket, they are worthy of a photo before being pulled.

I love the cheery yellow against the backdrop of fresh greens.

I do love spring.
But then I love all seasons.

This year ... last year...

This year we warmed up a bit faster than last year.  I am finding wild flowers that were already up and blossoming this year by April 25th.

Last year they were not blossoming until much later in May.

I'm guessing that if I get time between drives to Madison and work hours, I may get out and look for Morels!

I probably won't get to the woods today as we are expecting guests this afternoon.

So I'm going into my archives from last year.

Happy May 1st!

Seeking Bloodroot and Leeks.

I hope to find these pretty soon!  One of the very first flowers to come up in the woods in the spring.  That is ... after the Skunk Cabbage which doesn't look anything like a flower but still technically is.

These I found on the 15th in our creek bottom.  They are just emerging here so the ground must be much colder in this area.

That means in order to find Bloodroot flowers I'm going to have to find some hillsides that get a bit more sunlight.

You'd think after years of looking for them each spring, I'd have figured this out.  Nope, it didn't occur to me until the other afternoon while I was out with Morris.

Who posed for a cookie!

Look carefully in Morris's eyes.  You can see me holding up a dog treat to get him to sit still and look up!
He was too busy to stop and let me take his portrait otherwise.

I've looked back in my photography records on Flickr and the earliest I've ever found Blood Root in these woods has been April 20th.  So, perhaps I have to be a bit more patient.

BUT...
it is only two days until the 20th!

The leeks are coming on strong though and I may collect some young ones to chop up and mix into some scrambled eggs.