An eye for the small

Eliza has an amazing eye for the smallest creatures and details on our hikes.  This sometimes strikes me as funny, because she is often so deeply in her own world, her own story, that I am amazed at what penetrates through. Can you see the spider in the picture above? It took me a while, and yet it was the first thing she noticed as we struck out on our path at Fox Lake.

We paused at this guy - again, totally camouflaged by the leaf litter, but she just stooped down to get a better look.  The girls were a bit horrified at the little hairs along its legs, but what a fascinating find, and a good follow-up to all our talk about bones this week.

We watched these little guys for quite a while, running in and out of the moss.  It reminded us of the miniscule animated movies we've been watching!

This was not the smoothest hike.  Though we had planned a picnic and talked about visiting this beautiful spot again, and though it is the most wonderful treasure trove in the spring, the girls were hot. Ornery. I was stubborn. Finally I stopped us and short of a group hug, we had a regrouping, a deep breath and a compromise - a little further for mama, and then we turn around, earlier than planned, to head back to the water's edge, which is just much more alluring for them these days.  The rest of the hike was much happier, with Ani "helping" me over every log, and the girls joining me in delighting over our finds...

bloodroot leaf and bud

bloodroot blossom

dutchman's britches

so many trillium

And finally back to the pier, to the water, to watch carpenter bees drill their holes in the railing, to trail yarn in the water in hopes of a bite, to collect yards of fishing line to throw away, to watch the heron across the water stalk its prey, to make dandelion chains, to poke in the mud, to eat our lunch, to look for frogs and turtles, to talk to the fisherman and the kayaker...it all ended up more than well.