A Walk, Version 2

We had a really good weekend, our family did, beginning with dinner on Friday with new friends and ending with a house concert in the middle of the woods on Sunday night. In between, the girls and I got out for a walk along the bike-path, which has been balked at lately, but with the good weather and good spirits on our side, we succeeded in taking our walk. There were the ubiquitous Halloween decorations to spook us...

...and we stopped by our favorite sitting tree (I am collecting these "sweet" moments like precious jewels to keep me hopeful during the screechy whiney moments, of which there have been so many lately...is it the cold? Maybe it's making us all uncomfortable in our skins...).

Just before we get on the path, there is a meadow on a hill, and it was covered in these gigantic beauties:
(I promise, it was not one of us who took this chomp, though the girls were pretty insistent that it was a human bite...I gotta say, it would have been one ginormous chipmunk...)
Aren't they great fodder for a fairy village? There was tree climbing - still not quite to the path...

...and here, at our destination, were the railroad tracks...

...and the woolly bears (you've got to read this if you have a fondness for this little beasts).

A couple of weeks ago, I set us out on a seed collecting hike, during which I enthusiastically stuffed tiny representatives of dozens of plants into small collecting bags, in hopes of sorting, describing, drawing, discussing...you know, devouring the wonders of the seeds once we got home. The girls were much more interested that day in twirling in the wind, and the seeds, my sweet little seeds, still sit in their bags, in a box, waiting...and on this walk, all of a sudden, the girls spotted this plant (not sure what it is...) and its seeds just waiting for someone to notice, and they went on and on about how and who was going to disperse this plants' seeds...

...and we figured out it could be us...

Eliza discovered the tiny fairy goblet at the end of the sycamore leaf stems (in fact, I believe she exclaimed, "Hey, I know how they came up with the idea for goblets!")...

...and gathered this beauty, as large as her head...

It was gorgeous, we were happy, and I've tucked it all - the sun, the leaves, the giggles, the sweetness, the small hands, the wild hair, the woolly bears, the stones and the bright blue sky - into a pocket for me to find some dark and wintry day.

PS - Ah! I almost forgot a very significant part of our walk - we were followed home by a large German Shepherd! Yup, and he was so nice and gentle with the girls, stopping to wait for them if they tripped or coming to circle 'round if we got too spread out. Ani has been knocked over by a couple big dogs and has a healthy wariness, but this guy won her over. Sigh. I tried a very stern "No!" and "Go home!" and "Sit!" to absolutely no avail, so shut him on our tiny back porch when we got home, did some sleuthing by phone (thank goodness the vet's office was open on a Sunday!) and we got him in our car, thanks to the help of our neighbor, and drove him home. A phone call from his owner confirmed that he was waiting for them when they returned. His name was Tucker.