Sunday, February 15, 2009

Early Spring in the Garden



A sunny and cool day in the morning, but partly cloudy by the time I headed out to hike with Radu. Well... I was in a very slow mood, so perhaps I should say we headed out to wander around. We ended up down on Old Thompson Road, an old road (never paved) that is now just an old washed out roadbed leading to a rusting iron bridge over Lawson's Fork.  The bridge has no floor so you can't actually use it.  There's an old house site in the woods beside the road, and there I found a few interesting old bottles small enough to slip into my fleece jacket pockets.  Then we continued to wander up the hill to the high, rocky ridge that continues on the west side of Meetinghouse Creek.  White oak, Red maple, and gnarled Sparkleberry trees grow on top of the ridge, rising from between the huge, lichen-covered rocks. Just over edge of the rocks, facing north, the steep slope to Lawson's Fork is a Mountain Laurel thicket.  No way I would head down there, but Radu enjoyed his country-dog freedom and investigated all corners of the north slope.  I could follow his path by listening to the leaves rattle and crunch in the silent afternoon.

Wandered back to Middlewood to draw the flowers in the garden.  Such a beautiful and magical time of year.

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