The Little Things

As I get older, I find more nad more that it's the little things that make me happy. I tend to pass some of these things by, because they're not big and showy; it's easy to miss them.

There are lots of little things at Shabo-Mekaw (to find out more about our country getaway, follow the links at the bottom of this page) this time of year.   For instance, these 'mini-landscapes' that we often walk right over as we hike through the forest. If you stop to pay attention, though, they're really quite beautiful - nature's tiny gardens of shining club moss, sensitive plant, sorrel, and ferns.

False foxglove

 There are a plethora of mushrooms growing here, of seemingly endless types and colors. I've never seen this blue one before.

For whatever reason, this particular stand of joe-pye weed was covered with butterflies...

Purple-headed sneeze weed

Downy lobelia

 Sumac is a beautiful tree with pink or red fruits. I have no idea which species this is - there are 35, including the poison one.

 Naked-Flowered Tick-Trefoil (maybe) and Hairy Hawkweed. The flowers on both of these are smaller than the head of a thumbtack.

 I didn't have time to look up all the mushrooms, but they come in every shape and color. The orange ones are actually much brighter orange than they appear in the photo.

 Mist Flower

  Hoary Mountain Mint

Field milkwort

 Early goldenrod

The eastern rainforest - poplar, oak, mountain laurel, white pine, lots of ferns...

Waterlily pads and some kind of aquatic reed.

Queen Anne's Lace

 Ironweed

 Field Thistle

 Joe-pye weed and butterfly by the pond.

It's almost time to say good-bye to summer... sigh...

Out in the Country

Yesterday we were out at Shabo-Mekaw, sanding and staining. I did get some time to go walking about by the creek, however, so I thought I'd share a few bits of what I saw. By the way, if you're not familiar with our beautiful country get-away, you can find out more by going here and following the links at the bottom of the post.

 The two cabins - one we renovated, one (the log cabin) we built from scratch.

 Little orange funnel-shaped mushrooms...

 Heal-All

Horse Nettle

 Smooth phlox

I have no idea what this; I can't find it in any of my tree or flower books. It's a very large bush or shrub. If you can identify it, please let me know!

To my great surprise, I found this rhododendron down by the creek, hidden by some rocks near the bank. I don't know how I missed seeing it all these years. 

As always, though always changing, the Kinniconick.

And of course, wherever I go, there they are - my boys, Arlo and Sunny.

Come Walk With Me

Come walk with me along the path above the Kinniconick Creek on a magical wintery morning...

Looking through the trees, down at the swirl hole from behind the cedar cabin....

... though it's late fall, the moss is still green...

We can look down at the swirl hole, the point, and the island...

We begin to walk downstream from the swirl...

  

Gazing out across the creek, we see the tip of the island, with mountains behind...

On the island, you can see the sunlight gleaming on white sycamores...

...which echo the shape of the mountain beyond...

Hemlocks and mountain laurel stay green all winter...

The water level is low at this time of year; there hasn't been much rain.

This view is from down behind the "back yard", in back of the log cabin...

... heading a bit further downstream, with the creek always to our right...

I love the huge beeches and hemlocks that seem to guard the path as it overlooks the Kinniconick...

Looking across again, at the island...

We continue to head downstream...

 We've now climbed down the embankment to the creek level, and stand looking upstream...

... and downstream one last time as we climb back up to the path above the creek...



Thanks for joining me; I hope you enjoyed the views. This post is dedicated to my dear friend Ken Lobitz, who owned this land at one time, and built the cedar cabin; I was inspired his recent blog post about pathways at Shabowmekaw.  To find out more about this magical place, I strongly encourage you to read the other posts at Ken's beautiful blog, Kinniconick Reverie.  Ken has some wonderful stories to tell.