It ain’t here yet, but Spring is definitely on the way. We had a good amount of snow this winter to insulate the soil, and now that it is all melted you can smell the moist earth and humus promising a spectacular spring bloom. The Bailly Calumet trail will soon be exploding with new growth. However be forewarned, at the moment the eastern half of the trail is muddy. They kind of mud which will threaten to suck your shoes off your feet.
Soon this scene will be packed with spring wild flowers.
These last few seeds still attached to the husk were blowing off as I walked by. Managed to catch the last few hangers on.
About 5 months ago these grasses were taller than I am. Flattened by the winter snows, they will soon be back and full of birds and butterflies.
This Woolly Bear Caterpillar was moving along at a surprisingly fast clip. Took a couple attempts to get him relatively still.
The regular geometric patterns in dead wood never cease to amaze me.
The inside of a desiccated puff ball mushroom. You can see the delicate filamentary structure which holds on to the billion or so spores which this fruiting body produces.
All through winter and early spring the colorful lichens make fallen wood like this one of the most colorful highlights in the landscape. Soon however this will become lost among the under growth and showy flowers of spring, summer and autumn. And yet they will still be there come next winter, ready to shine again.
The last pic of the log is something I’d like to paint. May I? If so, could you email a copy?