A Walk in the Woods

 On Sunday Tom and I took a hike at the Germantown Reserve. The trails were very muddy (we had nearly 3/4 of an inch of rain the day before) and, in fact, that's what finally ended our hike. There was just no way to get across a wet area.

 We enjoyed a hike on the western edge of the park, hiking generally north from the Nature Center. A pond which is near the parking lot was muddy and the water opaque but there were a number of large koi swimming near the surface. In particular we watched one as gold as the sun, another black as coal, each lumbering along lazily.

 Spring beauties have been in bloom for a couple of weeks now and they're everywhere on the forest floor. Such a tiny, delicate bloom atop an insignificant stem. How do they survive the winter's cold? How do they survive the summer's heat and drought?

 Dogwoods are in bloom now, too. All the wild ones I see are white. I love the salmon-colored ones which are now cultivated.

 Tom checks out some flora as we hike down a trail ...

 I love the dogwood above Tom's head and the vivid redbud trees in the distance. The grass greens with the recent rains and warmth.

 I quickly noticed clumps of mayapples (and thought them triliums) but Tom corrected me. We didn't find any mayapples in bloom though Tom located this one with a bud. The flowers are beneath the large green canopies.

 When we finished our hike - by the way, we didn't find a single mushroom, and that was an explicit goal - we stopped at the Nature Center and I admired this stuffed bobcat. I didn't know they were back in Ohio.
 It was a pleasant day with temperatures that climbed into the upper 50's. There were other hikers, too, though the park wasn't busy. We enjoyed a quiet afternoon admiring the gathering green.