In the forest rainbows are green...

After an afternoon of running dog-related errands, that's correct, running errands for the dogs (lousy dog owner, I know)...the clouds piled in and the first few drops of rain...but we were still all up for a walk. I cannot believe how the forest has gone from brown to almost overgrown.

The wood violets are holding out and enjoying the cooler weather.

And vines creeping and crawling up just about everything.

I spotted the first blow flies of the season, but the new ones are always skittish and it takes awhile for them to resort to scrutinizing me to see if maybe I might be on the verge of expiring. Hope springs eternal for blow flies I think.

The forest is alive with bugs but it is not yet time for repellent and we all pass unscathed by anything that might bite.

I think the hard winter has had its effect on some of the more heinous bugs, namely ticks. I may have developed some respect for bugs, but it doesn't extend to ticks. Are you itching yet? Usually it only takes the mention of the word in Wisconsin.

Pretty soon now these flowers will line every trail with purple.

But for now green reigns in the forest.

We surprised a jogger in the woods...odd place to be jogging for sure. But he decided before I could say a word to jog the other way. Okay, Charm was barking but that's her job...

It was just a grey misty day and the air was so fresh and full of growing things that it made me forget about a lot of things.

Domino ran laps around the lake endlessly while Charm and I explored.

I think sometimes the grey days are the best days for a camera. The light isn't so glaring and things settle into their more saturated shades.

The damp makes the trees darker and the leaves greener.

In the distance people were mowing their lawns. I always wonder about lawns. They are not so interesting. Sort of an urban desert.

Seems like people spend a lot of time and energy buying things to keep them green. I vow to never have a lawn unless absolutely forced to. I had a huge one once and I spent a great deal of time wishing it would turn brown and stop growing. I guess I'll never fit in the burbs.

But you never know...life throws you curves all the time. That is the one constant thing you can say about it.

This bush has the most amazing smell. Like honeysuckle quadrupled. I have no idea what anything is...so if you do let me know.

It's sort of like when I was a kid, we wandered around in the woods and we never knew the names of anything...we tasted things we shouldn't have and handled things that were toxic and we all survived pretty much.

But I think that these were a flock of cedar waxwings? Well some sort of waxwings. They were pretty the way they all flew in a group and landed here and there.

This is the most I have seen of chickadees in this forest. They are so fearless, like they either spend a lot of time at bridfeeders or they have never seen people.

Some of the flowers coming up are so tiny, you could definitely walk right by and never notice their gallant blooms.

While the lilacs put on a huge show which is hard to miss.

And of course there's my constant companion, Charm, never more than a few feet away. And looking a littly bully around the border collie edges.

How pretty that the forest has its own bells!

And look who has finally arrived! The mushrooms. I know what I will be doing this weekend between doggy events.

If I am not mistaken a feast might be in order. YUM!