I went for a walk on a break from work yesterday.
The next building up from where I work, as reflected in a stormwater detention pond. It’s a LEEDS-certified facility that looks suspiciously like a retrofitted barn. And they do cool high-tech stuff in it.
Oh hey, apparently another neighbor at work sponsors a chicken coop. Hello, girls!
And now for some fun. Here’s the dried-up seed pods of a dwarf day lily planted around said pond.
The flesh of the pod walls has decayed, leaving behind the structural ribs.
Ribs: a good idea for an even wider variety of creatures than I would have expected. Good design is good design, apparently.
Yep, I had fun with these!
Other discoveries included iced-over mud puddles.
…followed by frost crystals on rocks lining a drainage ditch.
Not bad for a quick break from work.
I hope you all enjoyed the full moon last night. I sure did! Did I tell you that I’ve made my peace with winter coming? Yeah. It was a few weeks ago now. I’m ready. I’m in the groove. I plan on exploring the woods up behind our house on snowshoes – I only did that two or three times all last winter. And there’s XC skiing in some meadows not far from here. I’ve got my half marathon training and two sets of new running shoes (when you find what works, and it’s on sale…get two pairs. One’s for the treadmill on crappy days, one’s for outside.) Now it’s time to wait for the snow!
And in the spirit of celebrating winter, we’ve just picked up our Christmas tree. We picked it out weeks ago and they cut it yesterday.
Would this beautiful 7.5 foot balsam fir be happier minding its own business on the farm where it was planted? Maybe! But it brings a ton of joy, and it’s every bit as much a sacrifice as the wood that went into the construction of this house, or the firewood that is even now warming us. Thank you, trees…this one will be getting a ton of grins in the coming weeks. This evening’s plan? Festoon it with stuff, and then head out for a Christmas choral concert that a friend is singing in.
Life is good.
I set an alarm and got up to look at the moon last night, and it had clouded over for the first time in a week. Drat.
ReplyDeleteMostly I wanted to comment because I am a black cat caretaker and a salamander protector. Sadly, no red efts for me since I moved to Oregon. But we do have a snazzy newt of our own.