More Close To Home
PHOTO: An umbrella is a fabulous invention that kept yours truly dry while I went for a walk in the woods in down pouring rain.
by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer
“2020 is a unique Leap Year. It has 29 days in February, 310 days in March and 5 years in April.” Joke I heard this week and I chuckled because it feels true.
Charlie and I are well and I hope you and yours are too. We continue to stick close to home and keep ourselves busy by organizing our home and doing yard work. And pruning blueberry bushes is an endless task..
I could barely lift my arms after pruning blueberry bushes three days in a row. I don’t work fast, believe me I take too much time thinking before I cut a branch. I imagine I am a teenager again and my grandfather is telling me to hurry up and cut out more. He planted these hundreds of rows of bushes in the early 1960s. The field is mostly grown up but we are working to reclaim it and we are slowly making progress.
My mother and I go for walks together in the woodlot behind the house. The warm weather has made for pleasant strolls. We have noticed small plants with small yellow flowers along the edge of the gravel road. This first flower of spring is the yellow Coltsfoot and they have shown up here. My mother doesn’t recall seeing them here before and I don’t either. No idea how and why but they have just shown up and we welcome their little yellow faces.
The peepers are out singing too! I recall taking a city friend out to hear them and she thought they were space aliens and didn’t believe me that they were just tiny little frogs singing for their mates.
The rain helped my mother to decide to stay inside and make oatmeal cookies but the rain didn’t stop me from going for a walk. My umbrella kept me dry. I spent some extra time poking along the brook watching the swollen water dance down the stream.
Here is a tip for finding some new close to home trails–visit your town’s website and click on the link for Conservation Commission and most often this is where you will find conservation land information, trail descriptions and maps.
Get outside and have fun.
