Jack’sWalk

The mark of the Eager Beaver, ©voyager, all rights reserved

Jack and I went down to the river today looking for beavers, but we didn’t have any luck. It was just too difficult to get off the path because the area is quite boggy right now. I fell 3 times (I’m dirty, but OK) before I finally decided to try again another day. We did see evidence of beavers, though, including this tree that some eager beaver started to gnaw and then abandoned. Maybe he’s coming back with a few friends to help. That looks like a mighty big tree for a single beaver to fell, even if it is an eager beaver.

Sunshine and Rainbows

A magical double rainbow from Jazzlet.

“This is the view from my bedroom window, lovely isn’t it? It’s a bit deceptive, you can’t see that beyond the end of the garden there is a steep slope down to a field, which is where we most often walk the dogs, beyond that is the Peak Forest Canal, then a local railway line – you can see that if you know where to look. The real deception though is the way it appears that we live in the country, when we live in a suburb, but like many northern cities there are fingers of countryside that reach into the urban area, and we are lucky enough to live on the edge of one of those fingers. When I’m on my laptop typing comments I’m in the room below our bedroom, the view isn’t quite as good as it’s blocked by our extension and by our neighbour’s enormous hedge on the left, and by the other neighbour’s conservatory on the right, but it’s still pretty amazing. The valley runs north/south and we can often see the weather blowing up it, maybe sheets of rain, sometimes the valley fills with mist and looks as if it’s boiling up before spilling over into the garden, occasionally the cloud drops right down and we can’t see to the end of the garden, let alone Top O’ The Hill. Yes that wee hill is known as Top O’ The Hill.”

 

©Jazzlet, all rights reserved

Breathtaking. Thanks for sharing Jazzlet.

Tree Tuesday

Nightjar has sent us some fabulous photos of the fully fruited-Persimmon trees near where she lives.

These are some photos from local persimmon trees. As you can see, as of December 23 all leaves have fallen but the fruits remain on the trees. Most haven’t fully ripened yet and are showing no signs of falling. This is unusual for this time of the year, persimmon season should be over by now. I have no explanation for it, but the result is many alternative “Christmas trees” around the village, naturally decorated with unconventional orange balls. I think they look amazing right now and I thought you would enjoy them too.

Yes, Nightjar, I am enjoying them and so will everyone else. Thanks.

©Nightjar, all rights reserved

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Jack’s Walk

Alas, we did not find the beaver, ©voyager, all rights reserved

Jack and I found this beaver chewed tree at the end of the trail today. We looked around a bit, but couldn’t find any other signs of beaver activity. This tree tells me that they’re here, though, and once the ground is frozen and less boggy we’re going to walk closer to the river to see what we can see. I’ve never seen a beaver in the wild so this is all very exciting. What could go wrong?

Jack’s Walk

 

©voyager, all rights reserved

Our day started with sunshine peeking through the drapes, but by the time we were up and about the sky was thick with heavy and listless gray clouds. The whole world looks gray and listless in this light and it was tough to get ourselves out the door today. As motivation, we decided to make the short journey to our favourite wee forest hoping we might find a bit of an adventure. Alas, we did not, but we might have heard a few pixies giggling and I’m almost certain I saw a fairy dart into this hollow stump and just disappear. Poof, and he was gone. Not even a whiff of breath left behind. Jack tried to follow, but wisely decided he couldn’t fit and gave up the chase. We made our way around the rest of the trail slowly, and heard nothing more than the creak of the grandmother trees in the wind and the lonely caw of a single crow.

Tree Tuesday

Today, we have something even better than a Christmas tree. Avalus has sent us an absolutely enchanting forest photo for this Christmas Day Tree Tuesday. Thanks so much, Avalus.

Zauberwald means magic forest.

Hiking an a misty morning last fall on a path in the Odenwald suddenly the sun appeared between the trees. I think the slight misfocus adds to the “magic forest” feel I had that moment.

Zauberwald, ©Avalus, all rights reserved

Jack’s Walk

Thin Ice, ©voyager, all rights reserved

The sun is trying to shine today, but it’s weak and can’t quite overcome the gloomy clouds that fill the sky. Nonetheless, we had a pleasant walk down by the river this morning. We saw a few ducks, heard a lot of crows, found some mud and even saw a few shards of blueish sky. Jack really wanted to go swimming, but I didn’t think it was a good idea so soon after surgery so I kept him on dry(ish) land with the help of a few liver treats. He’s a good boy and does what he’s told, but he really wanted to get wet. Oh well, I did let him hunt for mice (he won’t ever catch one) and get some mud between his toes (fun!) so he was happy enough.

Jack’s Walk

Hurry up, mum. ©voyager, all rights reserved

Ha! I found the battery charger for my camera and as I predicted it was in the last place I looked. Actually, it was found by an out-of-town friend who reminded me that I had the charger with me when I visited her a few weeks ago. She was certain that I hadn’t left it behind so I took the short walk to the cupboard and finally found the damned thing in the pocket of my suitcase. I am relieved. And embarrassed. But mostly relieved. The photo today is my sweet Bubba enjoying life without a grapefruit sized lump in his armpit. If you look closely you can just see the shave growing in on his right arm. He was prancing around the woods today like a puppy with his tail set at sail and obviously happy. I think that some of the slow down that I’ve been attributing to age might have just been Larry The Lump™ giving Jack the pip.  He’s a bit frustrated in this photo because I am taking too many pictures!

 

Tree Tuesday

Our tree this week is a bit of a show-off, being laden with both flowers and fruit in December. The photos are from Nightjar and they were taken on December 2 of this year. I double checked that date because I could hardly believe it.

This is a strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo, no relationship to strawberries except for whatever was on the mind of the person who came up with the english common name), bearing flowers and fruits at the same time as is to be expected from a tree that blooms once a year and whose fruits take around 12 months to mature. Native to the Mediterranean region, the flowers feed the bees (the resulting honey has a unique taste) and the fruits feed the birds. I like to eat the fruits fresh, although only a handful at a time because they can become cloying fast. They also bruise very easily, so there is no point in picking more than what one can eat in that moment… unless the goal is to make the traditional fruit brandy or jam, but I like neither of those things. Anyway, I think the tree is very pretty and it seems to be relatively unknown outside of its native range, so I thought I would share it!

©Nightjar, all rights reserved

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