Today I was in a funk. I get like that sometimes when good things come to an end, like the car rental (really nice Mazda 5s that we've had for some time since our vehicle got hit while parked on the street in front of our house) and the change in work, different position same place but some time off in between. Ho hum. It was time for some intervention.
Well, I'd mentioned to a friend that I wanted to get some birch branches for Christmas planters and she knew just the place where there was a bit of birch windfall, so off we went with her dog Eclipse into the woods of the river valley. Ah, the aroma of the forest was scintillating, while the leaves crunched underfoot on the unmaintained path and the sun shone brightly beyond the trees, casting shadows and highlighting unfallen foliage of mountain ash and poplar. It's been a beautiful autumn day and we even worked up a sweat hiking uphill and rooting around for fallen branches and treasures. I came away with a nice bundle of birch, red twigged dogwood and some mountain ash berries. Needless to say the fresh air, the good company, and the beauty of nature turned my mood right around. Here, let me show you.....
The contrast of the white birch bark and the green lichen caught my eye. There's moss on tree stumps, decaying wood, peeling birch bark...so many eye-catching objects of beauty in the woods.
The quack of ducks not yet migrated and the caw of an occasional crow were not outdone by the squirrel who scolded Eclipse as it sat perched in the tree above him. Oh, to have that dog's stamina!!!
What a fine time in the forest. It makes you forget you live in a big city with the nags of daily life. Nature is my therapist. I simply must go more often.
