A walk in the woods

Not too far from home, we've got a great one mile trail through the woods. It has lots of nice, dry boardwalks, skirts a creek and pond, abounds with thimble and huckle berries in the summer and is home to a variety of creatures. On this day we wandered with Hazel's friend Reed, and we saw a newt, black squirrel and some pretty ducks in addition to the creepies below. We've seen beaver and a turtle on previous trips. I'm told you can see the salmon swimming upstream in late fall, so we look forward to a return trip to watch for them.

We introduced Reed to fishing - the same little pole Hazel had before where we cast the pretty pink fish and reel him in , over and over and over.


Waiting to use the "good" fishing pole - the one with the fish, not the one with the cork. I personally think the one with the cork is neater, as you can watch it float downstream before hauling it in.


I'm sure you can't tell from this picture, but my feet were soaking wet. It's a small creek, and my first cast was too long and got tangled in the far shore. Hazel bravely strode through the water in her boots, reeling as she went, to retrieve her little fish. It was too tangled, however, and I had to walk ankle deep in the water in my leather tennis shoes to save fishy. Hope I didn't disturb anything.

They've built a new observation deck by the creek - great for observing kidlets playing chase!

Also great for dancing. Hazel's doing her "jig" - a stationary skip normally done to banjo music at home.

This adorable fuzzy caterpillar out for a sunny stroll couldn't have known it was inching along to its doom...

They were both oh so gentle at first.

I thought Reed was adorable as he kept getting closer and closer to his new friend. Then he put his finger on its head and squished it - unintentionally I'm sure. He then put a leaf over it to keep it "safe." Good intentions, bad timing.

I don't think I've seen a red dragonfly before. There were about 20 of them along the railings, and as Hazel walked down the boardwalk, they all flew away one after the other. That was pretty neat.