So we went for a little walk in the woods the other day, and I stupidly did not bring my camera with me. Ach. I should know better. It was a lovely walk, and there were such interesting things to see that I actually went back out during nap time to take the pictures I missed (something I seldom do because naptime is generally sewing time). Anyhow, my point is that though these pictures are pretty/interesting they are missing the usual motif of my little boys in them. You'll just have to imagine the pudgy little pointing fingers and curly/strawberry-blonde moptops along with the lovely forest-y stuff.
We had the weirdest weather over the weekend. It thawed. Like, completely thawed. There is hardly a scrap of snow left anywhere. And it was so warm. Like, plus four, or six above zero (Celsius of course) or something like that. That is very warm here for this time of year. (Just for reference, this is what it usually looks like around here at about this time of year) So we left our snowpants at home, kept our mitts in our pockets and went out for a walk. And saw such interesting things. These shelf fungi are just so gorgeous. Fungus always amazes me.
The colour pallette of the forest is so brown/black/grey during this rare winter thaw that these little patches of colour just pop out at you.
And of course moss, lovely lush green moss. That's the other pop of colour.
But the most exciting thing came just after we finished admiring this particular moss covered rock. We turned the corned and found.... this:
See that?
Yep, a whole, huge tree just up and fell down. (Does that make sense? You know what I mean.)
And it was a BIG tree. Full grown. A Hemlock I believe. Interestingly enough, it seemed to have branches only on one side.
Probably because it was growing from the same base as this other one.
It even had one of those story-book perfect holes in the side, just the place for a squirrel to store nuts. Though my Dad says that it means that the tree probably had some sort of ant or termite in it, as evidenced by this hole which would have been made by a woodpecker trying to eat said bugs. And that the bugs are the reason why the tree was weakened enough to be felled by a strong wind storm.
It was quite a sight. So pretty and majestic and sad at the same time. And yet, that is the life of the forest. Things grow, they fall, but they don't go away, they just become part of the forest in a different way.
And then, when we woke up the next morning it had rained all night, and just LOOK at the valley.
Almost completely flooded! What crazy weather. This does NOT look like January. Its that pesky beaver's fault I'm sure. Though on the bright side, if we just get a bit more rain and then a flash frost, we'd have the perfect skating rink.
Ya always have to look on the bright side.
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