Sunday Stroll & Splits

 With a couple of neat families walking Chloe and Piglet on a beautiful Sunday afternoon...

A random picture of Amelie doing the splits at Chick-A-fillet

It looks painful!

Earth Day

Last week, while leaving the forest, Sarah and I were given, by a nice couple,

3 seedlings of Bald Cypresses (about 5-6 inches high). 

They had some 500 in their truck bed, ready to give out that week-end at a University.

Sarah ended up planting them in our back yard Monday the 22d,

Which happened to be Earth Day come to find out later on!!!

What coincidence!

I already have one of those trees in our back yard.

I fall in love with it over and over again every Spring,

It comes back to life with such beautiful tender green needles...

I hope I can keep at least one of these babies alive to grow strong a beautiful!

All 3 would be a huge success!

Gathering Berry Goodness

Ti's the season for gathering blackberries in the forest!

We washed them, individually froze them, and filled a full gallon size freezer bag!

I now have a good supply for my fruit smoothies.

Half of what we picked ended up in our bellies!

It brought back childhood memories, 

I would go with my sister gather blackberries behind our house in the country, along the Canal.

Then too, half would go in our bellies.

The other half my mom would make blackberry tart and/or jam.

Yumm... all good!

PS Chloe ate a little too many, she seemed to have a tummy ache later on...

A New Day - A New Begininning

New beginnings.

Tender life springing forth.

Mother Nature renews herself, never faltering. 

A beautiful miracle.

Like the cycles in nature, we too have new beginnings.

Because every day is a new beginning.

A chance to start anew.

A fresh start.

A redo.

Heaven knows we need this.

Because we are perfectly imperfect.

Life is truly amazing.

Truly beautiful.

Photos taken with my Note phone

Mission Impossible

Trying to get Chloe to look at me.

Mission impossible.

Right. Right. Left. Right. Right. Left.

That is all I got!

She only sat there that long because I had treats...

She is ALWAYS on a mission when she is outdoors!

A squirrel. A bird. A bug. A leaf. A human. A dog. A dear. A butterfly.
A dead something. A skunk. Hey no! not that stinky stuff or that one!
Both bad, very bad!

Two days of Darkness

These past 2 days have been dark so dark with rain and more rain.
Don't get me wrong, I love rain, but
I had to do something to keep the darkness outside from seeping into my soul.
So here are a few things I did to keep the darkness and gloom out.

* 'Downton Abbey' Season 3 Episode 1 & 2 (Awesome!)

* Yoga
* At least 3 episodes of 'Parenthood'
* Walking the dogs in the drizzling rain and foggy woods with a friend
* 'Doc Martin'

* Eat all the yummy gooey oatmeal cookies a friend made for me.
* Zumba (To burn off the cookies)

* Blogging & Picture editing
* Sprouting class at Church
*Power naps
* Spiritual soul-searching time alone in the Word (scripture that is)
* I didn't do the dishes for 2 days, but finally did them last night.
* I didn't sort and put away all my winter clothes I dumped in my bathtub,
before I left for Ohio. I might not need them this year again...

And Today the Sun is Shinning bright!
My awesome man, who I haven't seen during those dark days, (he is overly busy at work)
 cleaned the garage this morning before I was out of bed!

Windows are opened to let the fresh air and the sunlight shine in!

Saturday Morning Walk

Today...
Our chore list was pushed asside,
to make room for relaxing Fun Activities with Amelie and Friends.

Forest Fall Festival

We took Amelie and her little neighbor friend to Jones forest where I walk Chloe almost everyday.

The organisation that rescues and protects wild animals put on a little festival.

Amelie and Maddie waited almost an hour so they could do the jumping/trampoling thing.

They had some good fun!
(More pictures to come)

My Halloween Decortion this year is on my car!

Up Up And UP

My forest

Now that the weather is cooler in the mornings, I love my daily walks even more!

Flowers Everywhere

I Love my forest, my dog & wild flowers.

I brought a bucket to fill it with Blackberries, I was a little too late. 

I did get enough for a delicious fruit smoothie.

It was so good!

I miss the Fall in Ohio

 

I did find a few colors in the greenbelt behind our house,
but no way near the colors we find in Ohio...

I've been walking Chloe there because 

Jones Forest is closed to the public for major logging and cleaning up.

Coyote Chase

Today, a coyote got between Chloe and I and boy was it scary!

She was behind me as we were walking in Jones forest. 

I turned around and saw that she was frozen and stopped following me. 

I kept walking. I turned around a few seconds later and she was still there. 

I kept walking, turned around again and saw a big coyote chasing her away from me! 

I thought I was going to lose her! 

I ran as fast as I could toward the coyote while screaming to Chloe to come to me. 

I kept running and screaming. 

After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably just 20 seconds, 

the coyote gave up the chase and returned to the woods. 

It could have been the speed of Chloe that deterred it, 

or it may have been the crazed woman screaming frantically after it! 

I'll never know, but I am so grateful this encounter ended like it did. 

Of course, I forgot to put my pepper spray back in my pouch. 

We got back late last night from Cincinnati. 

I had left the pepper spray in Texas. 

Dreamy

All pictures I have been posting are from my cell phone. 

These somehow turned out dreamy and fairytale-like

     So this is where I walk everyday! How can I not Love it!

 I feel like I live back in France. 

There, I would take long walks with my dog in the country around our village. 

I especially loved going in the woods... 

This week I found some wild blackberries and have been eating a handful every day!