The Weekly Walk

I worked a little bit on the Prairie Schooler Reindeer Ornament.

It's cold, it's gray, it's December. 

Let's take a walk!

Yesterday was a typical December day in western Oregon.  Cold, gray, and damp.  Nonetheless, I had places to go and things to see. 

The newest growth on the young Douglas fir trees is elongated and wispy.  It reminds me of something from a Dr. Seuss book.  Often, right at the tippy-tippy top, I'll see a hummingbird confidently perched while surveying his kingdom.  

I'm batty for mushrooms, I know.  But this is neat in an odd sort of way, as it is growing in a maple tree some 25 feet in the air.

From a distance, our hillside looks green with grass.  Upon closer inspection much of the green is moss.

See, mushrooms can grow anywhere!

As the year comes to a close, the old spent Oak galls are Nature's decorations.

My mushroom fascination continues...

Though it has not rained much this month, our Big Creek is still burbling along.  At our old house I could hear the creek from my bedroom window.  The new house is located too far away, and I do miss the sound of running water.

  

I'd title this old stump "Nature as an Artist".  It's really a pleasing geometric piece.  The circular growth rings are over-written with star-burst lines. 

Here's the most interesting thing I saw on my walk.  Down the center of our driveway, this set of tracks (hooves).  It's speculation only, but I think they belong to an Elk.  I maintain they are too big and heavy (look how deeply they are pressed into the earth) to be a deer.  I see deer tracks all the time, and they don't look like this.  One of our neighbors said that they'd recently seen an Elk, so it's not out of the question.   

And here are my Christmas ornamental - Holly....

...and Ivy.

I looked for Mistletoe, but could not find any.  Brrr!  It's cold; time to go back inside.