Winter walk in the woods

Across the street from our house there's a trail in the woods. It's on our neighbor's property, but they kindly let us meander through whenever we like. The exact path of the trail has been changed a bit here and there over time, but there's always so much to see (and hear) when walking it.

Last weekend I said to Dave, "Let's go for a walk." He knows that sometimes the "us" in that sentence includes my camera, which means he'll have to do lots of standing around while I stop to look, ponder, compose and shoot. I'm SO thankful for such a patient partner!

A small creek, called the Onion Run, runs through the woods, and the trail zigs and zags toward the creek several times.

tributary of the Onion Run in early stages of freezing

Some parts of the Onion Run flow smooth, the water gently carving its path.

In other places, the creek gurgles and rushes, catching the rocks and leaves below.

Sycamore trees and their roots cling to the edges of the creekbed.

In addition to the water and the trees, there are so many flowers and grasses to observe along the trail.

unidentified grass

milkweed pods, bursting forth

Ironweed, my favorite

Looks like someone has been living here, probably a woodpecker

There are lots of other pictures that I would like to share, but the post would just go on and on. I've been playing with the "collage" feature that's available in the latest version of Picasa, and have found a way to save some space and still share some of my favorite photos.

triptych of grass and seedheads

collage of Virgin's Bower - a showy vine that is very easy to spot when it's in bloom, but even more so from afar when all the leaves are off the trees

fungi collage

I've never mentioned it before specifically, but you can always click on the pictures for a larger view. Most of the time you will be taken into a Picasa web album where you can see all of the pictures from a particular post.

I hope you enjoyed my walk through the woods. I'll be taking you there again and again.