We took advantage of a No School day today to go play! After a leisurely breakfast (well, for me anyway, I lounged around drinking coffee while Will and Zeek went on their usual morning walk), we headed over to Peavy Arboretum to do a little hiking in McDonald Forest. (After I spent five minutes looking for the car keys which I had left inserted in the trunk lock 10 minutes earlier.) (I always like to provide opportunities to remind Will that I'm not perfect.) Although perhaps that reminder was unnecessary since I was driving today, because from all the gasping and clutching onto things on his side of the car, one might suspect he doesn't think my driving is perfect. Good grief.
Here's a few pics from our day. I love the way the ferns grow on mossy dead trees.
There is something about walking through a forest that is satisfying deep in my soul. And that is about as poetic as I can get.
Check out the scary crocodile.
Anybody good at identifying mushrooms? There were many, and lots of different varieties. We done't know any of them. But this old retired guy I know might look them up one day when he's not too busy fishing or woodworking or raking leaves or vacuuming or doing Suduko or freaking out about the news.
 |
| Specimen #1 |
 |
| Specimen #2 |
 |
| Specimen #3 |
 |
| Specimen #4 |
 |
| Specimen #5 |
 |
| Specimen #6 |
 |
| More of Specimen #5 I believe. |
 |
| Specimen #7 |
 |
| Specimen #6 probably |
 |
| Specimen #8 |
After hiking about five miles, we were more than ready for a late lunch. Will said he wanted to go to TGI Fridays. I was surprised, I didn't know Corvallis had one, but Will said he knew right where it was. I was not surprised when he pulled into Ruby Tuesdays. He said, "Well, it's a day of the week, isn't it?" It cracked me up!
After a little shopping and some Starbucks coffee and a few more laughs, we headed home. How thankful I am to have the opportunity and the health to get out and enjoy a great day with my husband! I am so conscious of people I love who don't have that privilege right now: my friend Mindy and her husband Ryan, who is undergoing chemo, and of my Aunt Margie's family gathered with her son Tom and his wife Kathleen, as Kathleen is now on hospice due to cancer. My cousin Angie shared this on Facebook today, "As I watch my brother so tenderly and lovingly care for Kathleen, and then smooches on her cheek, tears come to my eyes. As I listen to Kathleen crack a joke and find humor amidst pain, a smile breaks through. What a blessing to witness such unconditional love "in sickness and in health". "
Our love and prayers are with them day and night.
"The eternal God is your refuge,
and his everlasting arms are under you." (Deut. 33:27)
