Another walk

I haven't taken a walk in the woods for awhile. Leaving B. behind seems unfair, and frankly the dismal weather has made me more inclined to head to the gym than the forests.

But...pedometer count calls for me to move my body and with no time for a trip to the gym, off I went to see what's going on the the East End Park.

Apparently someone has decided the path has great workout atmosphere potential.
Who ever set this up was no where to be seen. Cell phone was just sitting there unattended. What a trusting soul.

It does look like one of those tranquility workout videos sets doesn't it?

Good for them whoever they are.

I call this point Dead Bird Point, as the first time I walked there after the path was built (early in January) there was a dead white egret next to the end of the path.
Ewww.
I will be interested in taking seasonal pictures from this spot.

Apparently it is odd stuff in the forest day. Someone has loaded up a cooler with flotsam and jetsam and left it beside the path.

Hopeful the path maintenance crew will collect it soon.

The only wild life I saw was one lone cardinal. As usual I couldn't get close enough for a good shot. I need a faster shutter speed I think.
I was actually in a bit of a low mood as I walked. Everything was so gray and uninteresting.

No big yellow spiders, no talking, nothing.

Just bare branches and mildly humid mildly cool weather.

Bleeh.

I gave myself a little "snap out of it" talk, and tried to focus to see something worth photographing. The bark of a cypress caught my eye. It had such great texture and color that I was inspired to take it's picture and look for other interesting bark.

Nice puzzled bark, with highlights, shadows and monochromatic color.

This bark had small spikes, like barnacles accented with moss.

The base of this tree was open on three sides. I could see clear through it. Surely it is incapable of sustaining a tree at this point.

Would you believe that this is a photo of the canopy of the tree with the holey base?
You just never know. Stuff that looks like it should just fall apart sometimes does great, and other times there are massive trunks that just fall over for no apparent reason.

A dead tree stripped of bark by woodpeckers. I watched a wood pecker clear off bark on a dead tree one time. They are amazing. The bark chips just fly while they chase after the insects that burrow beneath the loose bark on the dead tree.

Other trees fall over and then baby trees grow out of the trunk.

That really doesn't make sense to me: If the original tree couldn't stand, why create multiple trees in the same space from the weak tree?

Moss is so colorful. Sometimes I think it looks like someone came along and daubed paint on the trees.

Vines always grow in the same directions. The double stripe look is quite common; again I wonder why. Don't the vines compete for space later on?

Some sort of bark beetle or wood worm has etched this dead tree.
I suppose they wound up as woodpecker food.

The prairie is dead looking right now.

The heavy rain has left puddles everywhere, and the clay based soil has colored the water so it looks as though someone has emptied tea cups everywhere.
The few places where the water has dried has left multicolored clay behind.
If I was feeling more creative, it would be interesting to try to shape the clay and have it fired, just to see what happens.

I'm still feeling rather tired and blah...the winter of our discontent and all that...heading home on the street when I see this little nosegay festively blooming in a crack.

Here's a mood gauge: Are the flowers being overwhelmed with gutter debris, or being victorious in the midst of hardship?
The flowers are a light grey lavender, and I have seen this particular species bloom in the desert.
Hardy little plant, that one.

A neighbors petunias seem unnecessarily gay. We've had frost several times in the last weeks, frankly I am wondering how they survive.

By my front door an ornamental cabbage stalwartly grows despite total neglect. Eventually the heat will do it in, but for now I appreciate the splash of purple beside the walk way.

The walk resulted in 6000+ steps and a few good pictures.
Good enough for a blah winter day.