Aspen Berm hammock: Exploring the woods 3
The willow sticks that stood two inches high, which I'd planted a month or two ago stood like rows of soldiers along the base of Jopi Tipi alongside Fiddlehead pond.
The air was fresh and crisp with clear blue sky above and a nip of cold on my nose. The deer tracks in the snow covered, dead brown fern fronds alongside the flat area of the lane parking lot, had knocked snow off where their weight had pressed the foliage down, the snow likely bouncing off the leaves as the deer moved on.
I stood gazing at the dappled browns and the snow that tried to cover them and picked out which were tracks and which were just the bumpy vegetation beneath the thin snow.
The tracks headed to Sumac Hill, but didn't use our wood chip path Willem and I had made last summer. My red Nordic walking poles were wonderful support as I walked along. The plastic bags in my holey mukwahs, or crok knockoffs kept the snow off my feet.
At the swing bench, deer tracks littered the area at the little pond beach. Interesting. The water was frozen with a dusting of snow on top, so the deer hadn't come to drink. A single red sumac seed pod lay on the ice.
The willow blind I'd woven at the pond edge was quite lovely. It isn't used now that we have the tipi at the pond, but it sure looks pretty!
The pond was frozen right to the edge all the way around the pond. A tree had fallen. It was one of the corner trees formerly used for the sap line. The line was gone, but the metal wire was still there. A tree I'd taken down the other day had fallen on the wire along with another tree trunk that was already on it.
I'd hoped it wouldn't snap as I'd bent under it last week. It hadn't snapped then or now. Instead it had pulled the large dead tree down. The birdhouse on it now faced the sky and would need to be relocated.
One of the trees that blocks my view from the house to the pond has a good low branch that will one day be good for a child swing.
The deer tracks led to Aspen Berm and up over or around it. It was interesting to see how they deal with the new hill. Their journeys take them over so many rock hills and knolls here. Always something up or down but not level.
I climbed the hill, not where the deer had chosen the steeper parts, but beyond, where the hilltop ridge bowed to the ground. That was much easier for me.
I stood there on the top of the berm, remembering how nice the view was from up here. My hammock, hanging over the back of the hill was folded closed with snow on top. Easy to get rid of the snow this way and lie in a nice dry hammock.
It worked, I got onto the hammock without any trouble, hanging my feet off the sides of the end of it so I wouldn't get any snow on it and eventually up onto my bare calves.
I'd worn a mid-calf skirt so it wouldn't drag in the snow like most of them do.
I lay and watched the trees, appreciated the stillness and appreciated winter. It's been happening since the beginning of the earth. Strange how we wait for it to end so we can get on with another nice season. There is much to appreciate in winter and all that it lacks.
I lay and prayed aloud, becoming filled with the Spirit of the Lord. I tried to make a video, but my camera battery was dead.
The air was fresh and crisp with clear blue sky above and a nip of cold on my nose. The deer tracks in the snow covered, dead brown fern fronds alongside the flat area of the lane parking lot, had knocked snow off where their weight had pressed the foliage down, the snow likely bouncing off the leaves as the deer moved on.
I stood gazing at the dappled browns and the snow that tried to cover them and picked out which were tracks and which were just the bumpy vegetation beneath the thin snow.
The tracks headed to Sumac Hill, but didn't use our wood chip path Willem and I had made last summer. My red Nordic walking poles were wonderful support as I walked along. The plastic bags in my holey mukwahs, or crok knockoffs kept the snow off my feet.
At the swing bench, deer tracks littered the area at the little pond beach. Interesting. The water was frozen with a dusting of snow on top, so the deer hadn't come to drink. A single red sumac seed pod lay on the ice.
The willow blind I'd woven at the pond edge was quite lovely. It isn't used now that we have the tipi at the pond, but it sure looks pretty!
The pond was frozen right to the edge all the way around the pond. A tree had fallen. It was one of the corner trees formerly used for the sap line. The line was gone, but the metal wire was still there. A tree I'd taken down the other day had fallen on the wire along with another tree trunk that was already on it.
I'd hoped it wouldn't snap as I'd bent under it last week. It hadn't snapped then or now. Instead it had pulled the large dead tree down. The birdhouse on it now faced the sky and would need to be relocated.
One of the trees that blocks my view from the house to the pond has a good low branch that will one day be good for a child swing.
The deer tracks led to Aspen Berm and up over or around it. It was interesting to see how they deal with the new hill. Their journeys take them over so many rock hills and knolls here. Always something up or down but not level.
I climbed the hill, not where the deer had chosen the steeper parts, but beyond, where the hilltop ridge bowed to the ground. That was much easier for me.
I stood there on the top of the berm, remembering how nice the view was from up here. My hammock, hanging over the back of the hill was folded closed with snow on top. Easy to get rid of the snow this way and lie in a nice dry hammock.
It worked, I got onto the hammock without any trouble, hanging my feet off the sides of the end of it so I wouldn't get any snow on it and eventually up onto my bare calves.
I'd worn a mid-calf skirt so it wouldn't drag in the snow like most of them do.
I lay and watched the trees, appreciated the stillness and appreciated winter. It's been happening since the beginning of the earth. Strange how we wait for it to end so we can get on with another nice season. There is much to appreciate in winter and all that it lacks.
I lay and prayed aloud, becoming filled with the Spirit of the Lord. I tried to make a video, but my camera battery was dead.