A Walk In The Woods

Almost summer, but not quite.  Warm, but not hot (63F/17C.. don't laugh, Felicity and Ruby, that's warm to us!)  And the sun is shining, which is what really matters.  And it's good to get out of the house.  Gunnar chose our route, down the alley and toward the hill.

These California poppies are his favorite flower.

We walk past the house where my dad grew up.  My grandpa built the little overgrown grape arbor.

We've just come up this hill.  You can't tell the steepness in the photo, but Gunnar used to worry a bit when I pushed him up or down in the stroller, he told me later.

We walk by my old school.  Those windows were my Kindergarten and first grade classrooms, with the cafeteria in the back.  Wyatt and Tate were the fourth generation of my family in this neighborhood school, until we pulled them out to homeschool

Gunnar loves to walk by this little farm.  Can you see what shares the meadow with the sheep?

A little Dutch rabbit.

We go past the farm and into the woods.  Both of us looked up and thought this was some strange bird, but it's just dead leaves from last fall, still caught in some branches.  Huckleberry bushes 'like' to grow out of dead trees, sometimes way up high on tall stumps.

Broad-leaf maples sometimes form a cluster of trunks.  Fun for kids :D

This one didn't fare too well in a winter wind-storm.  It started to fall but got caught in another maple.  They're both still living, but lean over the path.  We call these "widow-makers" and walk under them with care.  If you look in the shadows, you can see that part of one has indeed come down right on the trail.  That piece was about ten inches in diameter, which would really ruin your day.

We noticed an orange fungus growing on this one, which seemed unusual until we looked up.  It was broken off about 25 feet above us and was completely dead.

This tree appeared to be watching us.

For a moment I thought this cedar had a different fungus, until I realized it was more cottonwood fluff.

It's everywhere.  Summer "snow".

We've made our loop, and we're heading out of the woods, toward home.

But there's always something, just around the bend.

Why?

You'll see little rock towers - cairns - in the wilderness, to mark trails that are hard to follow, or may be covered with snow.  But this trail isn't exactly obscure!

One more treat before we get home...

... and back to chores and books :D