Starting the day outdoors

My daughter, Marja, and I made a pact last night at karate to meet this morning for an early morning walk in the woods. And inspite of a pulled tendon on my part, we met with cameras in hand as the sun was coming up. Unfortunately my battery didn't charge so Marja had to take over the photography reins. Which she did very well.

We were off on a walk with all the dogs; Charm, Domino and Ra on a cloudy day with just a hint of morning chill.

Marja got one of those interesting shots of a reflection.

Leaving the house half awake, I forgot the dog treats, much to the dogs' disappointment.

It's sort of strange seeing the light coming from a different direction than usual.

I liked this picture Marja took of this sapling with thorns...it looks much more menacing in the picture.

If Ra was looking for a fire hydrant, he didn't find one...he had to settle for a lot less.

The dogs all had fun sniffing everything.

Even though the tent caterpillars were still all snuggled up asleep.

Marja, being the rock hound she is, collected rocks and even found a vein of quartz running through a boulder.

The wild asparagus has started coming up, a very tasty natural resource.

A ladybug catches the first light.

And delicate flowers stand out against the dark trees.

Leaves emerge with color.

We had spotted wood ducks on the lake when we approached, but they took off with their strange whistling calls.

Tufts of grass were nibbled down along the trail by forest residents and even the dandelions are still in short supply.

My dogs romped in the mud and water while Ra looked on. Ra is not one to get his feet wet.

But Domino went from muddy black to normal pretty quickly.

And Charm was wet as usual.

The tiger lily field is spreading out of its borders, bringing a shocking green to the forest.

Some of the tiniest chickadees I have ever seen joined us and had absolutely no fear of people or dogs.

While beetles had that definite "love is in the air" thing going on.

Strange wilty trees have begun to spread throughout the forest.

We stopped to look for the owl but he was high up in the trees. A crow stopped to torment him for awhile. We followed a strange bird call which turned out to be a flicker. Domino and Ra had watered every tree in the forest and Charm had her fill of swimming, my tendon was loosened up and feeling better, so off we went home. A walk before coffee, an excellent way to begin the day.