National Arbor Day -- April 28

Well, a couple weeks ago, while Michelle was still recovering from her surgery and limiting herself to walking, I had thought to join her. However, I was a little slow on the uptake that day and didn't get to the park before the gang all left. That meant I took off down the trail hoping to catch up to some of them. I had taken my camera with me and along the way, I stopped to take a few shots. Even though I eventually did meet up with the Y group, I continued to take pictures throughout the morning. My focus seemed to be on trees and nature. As April 28 (Friday) is National Arbor Day, I thought it fitting to post some of the shots I took, especially since I'm not currently swimming, cycling, or running after the whump, whump, whump beating I took the other day.


First a quick look at the trail we Puyallup Y runners frequently run. This is about 3/4 of a mile from the main parking lot. Eagles or ospreys are sometimes seen on those two scrags in the middle of the picture.



Next, a little further along the trail, I spotted this tree. I have no idea what kind of tree it is, I was simply taken with the amount of moss on it. They say moss grows on the north side of a tree, but if that were so, then I was on the north pole because every side of this tree was covered in moss. I think all the moss simply indicates there is a lot of moisture in the area.


Upon leaving the trail and the Y Runners that day, I headed home, but not before making a couple more stops. A few weeks ago, you'll remember I talked about a ferocious wind storm that we had. It took out many trees, including, it would seem, this rugged hold out from days gone by. Not only is the tree now fallen, but its trunk was all twisted and gnarled, yet it continued to blossom.

Next up was this old abandonded farmhouse. Does this old house not make you wonder who lived there before and what their lives must have been like? My husband and I would dearly love this piece of property, but only if it came with the adjacent piece of property which is currently sporting a beaver pond. The dam is difficult to make out now that the grass is green and growing, but they (the beavers) did a fine job of building it and this pond is bigger than I've seen in 5 years.






Of course, the property that Pat and I have isn't all that bad either. We have several fruit trees: italian plum, golden plum, cherry, apple, apricot, peach, and walnut. During the spring, the blossoms are beautiful. The blossoms above are apple and the ones below are cherry.

Of course, no northwest garden would be complete without the requisite rhododendron. This is one of the beautiful early pink varieties. If you look closely, you will even be able to see the bugs infesting my pretty rhoddie!