Jack’s Walk

©voyager, all rights reserved

At this time of year there are so many beautiful flowers that it’s easy to forget some of the other pretty things in the wild. So today Jack and I are sharing a few small bubbles of bright orange fungus that we found poking their heads up. The focus is soft, but somehow it suits. I think it’s a waxy cap chanterelle, but I’m no expert on the fungus among us.

The Most Annoying Weed Ever

My strawberry patch looks awful. What little I planted this year has mostly dried due to way too warm and dry May. However I still have enough big strawberries – those damn plants infested the side of the vegetable patch and grow among grass and potatoes like mad. Annoying, truly, on oh so many levels.

©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

That was…interesting.

Another storm seemed to be blowing in. I was looking out my studio window, and couldn’t figure out the intense light I was seeing, so naturally, I went out. Winds were about 25mph when I stepped out, and were ramping up quickly. I found the intense light, and was laughing, because it kinda looked like a portal to another universe was cracking open. Sometimes, I can truly understand why religious people get such fucked up ideas. As I was clicking away, it dawned on me that winds were now about 40mph, and branches were whipping and cracking. Where I am, you’re surrounded by trees, every which way. As I’m making my way back home, broken bits of tree begin to fly. Made it safely back and indoors. The wind reminded me of the ones generated by a nearby tornado years back. The high winds have gone intermittent now, and the sunset is a lovely, lurid orange. The ‘portal’ is gone, but it was certainly worth seeing! Most photos behind the fold, because lots of them. Click for full size.

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Jack’s Walk

©voyager, all rights reserved

One of the reasons that Jack and I started walking trails is because he’s allergic to grass. Walking on the stuff makes his feet itchy and he pick, pick, picks at them until they bleed. He takes allergy pills in the summer which help, but mostly we try to avoid the stuff once it starts to green up in the spring. That’s not easy when you live in a town where most everyone has a front lawn, so we took to adventuring on dirt paths and forested areas. Turns out we both love to traipse around and explore. We treasure hunt for stones and bones and pretty pictures. Sometimes we chat. Sometimes we sing, but mostly we just be together in companionable quiet. We’ve had so many wonderful times and it’s all because of those itchy feet.

Jack’s Walk

©voyager, all rights reserved

We were overtaken by a swarm of mosquitoes today on our walk by river. We were nearly at the end when the cloud of them descended. Poor Jack got a belly full of  itchy, red bites. His mostly naked belly and groin are the only places the buggers can get to him because his fur is so dense. Little bastards got to me too, but my bites are more all over because I am handicapped by not having fur. I don’t know where we’ll go tomorrow, but I do know we won’t be walking beside this beautiful, serene, swampy breeding ground for pestilent, disease carrying, vampire insects who want our blood.