Wednesday's Walk

A walk from 10 year ago

By mid-March things have really begun to green up.

There are new buds on many of the trees and shrubs.

Some of the earliest trees and wildflowers are in bloom.

Some of the trees are festooned with moss. 

The Grand Hound's Tongue (Cynoglossum grande) is now in bloom.

While most of the western Trilliums have a flower that sits directly atop the leaves, the flower of the Western Trillium (Trillium Ovatum) has a stem between the flower and leaves. The flower thus nods above the big green leaves.

This is not a wilding, but a plum tree - very pretty nonetheless.

This time of year I love the contrast of the brilliant green leaves and the deep red bark of of the Red Elderberry (Sambucus racemosa).

While most of the Indian Plums or Osoberries (Oemleria cerasiformis) have finished blooming, I found one large plant in the deep shade that was still quite lovely.

The Ash trees that line our Big Field have not leafed out, but the field greens up more and more each day.

With my eyes on the ground I found a few early violets near my sister's garden gate.

The seasonal creeks are burbling along with the rains from this past weekend.

The willows that line the Big Creek have catkins and are a haze of green.

I found the first blossom on a Wild Strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis).

And the Cottonwoods are beginning to leaf out!

It's allergy season already in Oregon! 

I read an article about Robert McFarland's "Landmarks" a book on landscape and regional languages which describe them. Who do you supposed travels here regularly.  A rabbit most likely. I found the perfect word for this photo. The word is smuese - Sussex dialect for 'the hole in the base of a hedgerow made by the repeated passage of a small animal.' A perfect word, and one we should still be using, don't you agree?