I Am So Lucky I Can't Believe It.

LUCKY, lucky. That's me. I spent Sunday in the real woods. Not the mind-boggled "woods" where I sometimes find myself when I'm lost without the least notion of where to go next or what to do.
On Sunday the Mister and I went up on the property again. I took my trusty camera to give you another fine tour. First we worked on making a trail. I cleared a path down along the creek to what I call "Fairy Fern Point." It's the perfect trail since it ends at the base of a tree right at the creek, where most likely fairies sit in the shade wondering who they'll marry when they grow up and what they'll name their children. (Anyway, this is sort of how I hope my granddaughters view this place. They might imagine the fairies think of ways to become president or the best way to accomplish a leveraged buyout. Who knows? This might be much better!)
The Mister cut up sections of a railroad tie to make a nice staircase down to the creek. I can just see this when it becomes edged with moss and plants. I'll transplant some there to make sure it happens more quickly.

We had lunch and then put on tall rubber boots to walk up the stream and find out more about the creek. The Mister found a bright orange crawdad claw sitting in the river bed and then he found shells from bivalve creatures under a tree along the riverbank. Mussels? Sometimes I feel pretty stupid. Although I've seen them all my life at the beach I don't know what they are called. How did they get on this riverbank? We are 50 miles inland, at least, as the crow flies. Something had them for dinner.
Here's the Mister cutting branches off a log that is lying across the creek. He thinks we can use it for a bridge. Maybe those with a sense of balance can! Circus performers?

Next we came upon a plant that I believe is called "Devil's Club." The plants grow to be 8 feet tall or taller. The stems are thick and stickery. Check out the thorns on the underside of the leaves here. I don't think this is a plant I want to grab hold of when I'm hiking. No siree!
Walking up the creek, we had to duck under some logs. There was a place where the creek narrowed and was deeper and there is a small waterfall downstream. It was all so beautiful.

I took this one photo straight up overhead. You are looking at years and years of growth. Imagine five or six or 10 years per branch, and that's about how long this tree has been here - reaching up to the canopy for sun.
The Mister found a really large rock along the stream and turned it on end. It looked so sculptural we wanted to take it home, but neither of us wanted to carry it back just then. We wanted to keep going up the stream and then up the hill to follow the animal trails. So I put a "hat" on this river goddess and took a picture to show you. Voila!

Last but not least I'll show you the creek we stood in - and this was our view.
We cannot believe our luck to have had such a wonderful Sunday with great weather, a delicious picnic lunch and a beautiful place like this to share. (We'll take all the thanks we can get for continuing to let these trees grow and contribute to our world's oxygen resources. You're welcome. You're welcome!) femminismo