The past few Sunday afternoons, Faith, Josiah and I, have been taking advantage of the lovely weather and with Sadie Rose along, have headed off to enjoy God's beautiful creation.
Spring flowers are at their peak right now, new ones popping up each week!
The ferns are uncurling, the trees budding out; such an exciting time of year.
"Sun warmed pine needles - - - (deep breath) - - - One of the best smells in the world!!" ~FaithAnn
Jack in the pulpits were probably my favorite wild flowers as a child; some thing about the idea of a little man up in his green striped pulpit grabbed my active imagination.
So many hidden beauties, waiting to be discovered.
Sadie, our faithful companion on all our adventures, usually takes off far ahead and round about, but she always comes and checks on her people to make sure they are alright. :)
Seas of May apples wave in the breeze. They were not quite blooming on this walk (they are just starting now) but their big signature umbrella leaves are beautiful in and of themselves.
The birds were also abundant in the woods. We heard more than we saw (sneaky little birdies) but this adorable Blue-Winged-Warbler was so intent on "licking" the leaves that he let me capture some rather good pictures of him.
These darling pale pink blossoms, are just so precious, and really what makes a spring wood, just right. Spring Beauty, so aptly named.
We were escorted across a bridge by mounded sentinels of Marsh Marigolds.
(please excuse the tilted head... it's what happens when you tell one person to "un-tilt" and the other one does it just to be funny! *sigh* :)
Stunning.
Marsh Marigolds make lovely bouquets, shiny and yellow.
Sadie was persuaded to smile for a picture. (Josiah has an obligatory stick smile, no picture can be just right)
Another week we went to Beaver Lake Trails. The Trillium was EVERYWHERE! and in some spots, they were so huge. Must have loved the soil there. So pure and simple.
Bran' new, just born, too adorable, wrinkly little leaves. So sweet!
We found a bed of Wild Ginger along one of the pond paths; haven't seen these since Riverview! (we named our current van after the color of these little flowers).
Right after the patch of Ginger there was a stand of small bushy trees along the pond, and they were full of little birds. Mainly warblers that preferred staying hidden in the underbrush (or way up in the tippy-tops) to getting their photos taken.
We saw: a Magnolia Warbler, a Black-throated-blue Warbler, a Common Yellow Warbler, a Chestnut Sided Warbler, as well as a few elusive ones that were unidentified. Of course those were just the warblers, the trees were alive with all sorts of bird songs that day!
We have so enjoyed our Sunday strolls, and hope to keep them up even through the busy summer. God's world is so achingly beautiful, it deserves to be noticed and appreciated!!
~Chs
