It's really wet out there people

I borrowed my daughter's rubber boots and went for a walk in the preserve today. I really can't stand walking on the road around my neighborhood. I just can't. Too many cars. I never know if they're honking to be friendly or just because they're assholes. I always end up walking in the ditch, and for some reason, walking in the ditch next to the road just annoys me no end.

So it was boots and blisters and I didn't care. (Note to my daughter: your boots have leaks in them. On the upside, now I know where the word "squelch" comes from.) Lots of water out there, but look what I found!

Eggs in the water! It has to be tadpoles, right? And this is where all those adorable little toads are coming from. They're still out there, even weeks after I first saw them. Still hopping across my path. They make me smile. So different from walking on the street. I don't mind moving over for baby toads, you see. I don't mind it at all.

Marching onward

I have stopped running through the woods anymore. My knee has suddenly grown old and tired and refuses to put up with that kind of behavior. Now, me and the dog, we march. Quick-step, arms flying forward and back (except when my companion stops to pee or poop or sniff something, which is pretty often, and then my leash hand stays behind me and doesn't resume the fro-ing until Miss Daisy catches up again), striding forward through tall grass (don't they mow here anymore?) and muddy bogs, I look ridiculous I think. This kind of walking looks out of place here, I am sure. This poor turkey gaped at me for a full minute and a half before turning and quickly striding off into the woods, exactly as though he was afraid to be associated with such an odd person.

 But the wildflowers didn't mind at all.

 Nor did the crooked tree.

 The dew ignored me.

And this baby toad just hoped I wouldn't step on him. So I didn't and took a picture instead.

I thought I got up early

I thought I got up early this morning but someone beat me out to the woods. Here's a bike track.

And here's a dog's paw print.

And someone thoughtfully knocked down all the spider webs before I ran into them.

Oops. Missed one.

Find the toad!

The past few weeks there has been a hatching of tiny toads out in the woods. They hop and bounce all over the trail and I dance and skip to avoid stepping on them. Finally decided I was a force of nature and quit worrying about it. The dirt is soft and my shoes have many, many toad friendly depressions in them. I took some pictures this morning and when I got them off my camera realized that I had a hidden picture game here. So, find the toad! If you need a hint, email me and I'll tell you right where to look.

Lucky me

I'm cultivating gratefulness lately. Can't remember where I heard it. Maybe it was a podcast. I listen to them a lot when I'm out walking the dog. Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, This American Life, Science Friday, Too Much Information, Poetry Off the Shelf, Meditation Oasis. Hardly ever music. If I do listen to music, it's usually belly dancing music. Or it's music in my head. In which case, I always wish that I'd brought my iPod, or if I did bring it, that the batteries weren't dead.

Anyway, today I was in a hurry to walk the dog between dropping Sam off at the college and getting Nick to his dentist appointment and avoiding the men with chainsaws out in Tilly Fowler park, when I rounded the corner and suddenly saw this guy. I was so happy to see him. I couldn't stop to admire him properly so I snapped a picture with my phone (no camera! When will I ever learn?) before moving on to the dog's favorite pooping spot (before you ask, everywhere is her favorite pooping spot). He cheered me up, though. And I am definitely writing him down in my list of things to be grateful for tonight before I go to sleep.

He's green, which is perfect for St. Patrick's Day coming up, and he's perfect. Apologies for the low res image. Next time I'll remember the camera.

Fog

I love foggy mornings. It's quieter, for one thing. Does mist act like a sound buffer? And I love how you can just see the silhouettes of things in the distance.

Closure…

the principle of. Isn't that what it's called? When the lines don't meet but your mind completes them for you? It wasn't what I was thinking about when I took this picture, but I looked at it again today and realized that it illustrates the principle of closure perfectly. You know the web is there, even though the lines disappear. My life is like this. I can't see my daughter, but I know she's there on the other side of the world. I am part of the web and she's the other side of it, the line that reappears between the branches. I miss her, but I know the sun shines on her the same way that it shines on me, whenever I go walking in the woods.

Tiny moon

I apologize for the dark pictures lately, but it's horsefly season and those buggers chase me right out of the preserve when they're active. I've been getting up and out by 7 in the morning when it's still cool enough that flying pests are still asleep.

Almost green

I made this extra large because I love the almost green color in the sky behind the clouds and though you might like it, too.

Have you seen me?

Whatever was inside these curious looking things, they'd already escaped by the time I found them. I feel ambivalent about this.

Fog and scrag

Interesting that the shapes of trees turn more menacing when they're cloaked in fog. The dog was completely spooked for the first twenty minutes of our walk on this day. But typically, she got distracted early on and forgot to be scared.

Walking the firebreak

So this is a portion of my walk through the Julington Durbin Preserve. It's along the firebreak, which isn't the usual hard packed path that we follow, so it takes a little longer to get through. I took pictures every little while. Going this way adds another twenty minutes or so to the walk. I'm hoping that if I walk through here often enough, I'll wear a firm path through it, and it won't be quite so mind-consuming. Because as it is right now, I have to watch where I put my feet.

My favorite thing

It was so cold out in the woods this morning, I had a hard time hanging onto the camera. My fingertips hurt, my nose was running and it was dark, besides. But then the dog and I walked around a curve and saw light coming through the trees, cutting through the cold fog. It was sweet. But tomorrow, I'm wearing my hoodie and gloves.