Again dog sitting, but this time brought my 16 year old dog along with me since my twins are both out of town. Walking three dogs is tough. I managed to take the young lab, Buddy, out for a long walk, and then after returning was able to take the two older ones together.
Once out this morning and catching a breath of the crisp fall air, I decided I wanted to do some hiking today. I texted my friend Allen to see what he was up to, and he happily agreed to explore Winton Woods with me.
The three pups I’m watching. I love when dogs get along and respect each other.
I haven’t ever been to the Winton Woods area before. As you may know, new trails are my thing. I don’t ever want to get too comfortable repeating paths where I no longer see”.
Parcours was the first trail we decided to hit, knowing we wanted to be in the woods.
Support signs were posted at every trailhead. The litter on this trail was zilch, which I loved.
What I didn’t know is that this was an exercise course. I did all the easy ones along the way, like this one, but was unable to do a lot of them.
Felt good hiking with Allen. He’s such a dear friend and we were just taking our time, relaxing and catching up.
The course started out with primarily stretches which was great for us 50+ers.
These flowers were everywhere. Lining the pathways. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them before, or possibly just never took notice of them.
Allen had an app and could look up what they were. I need to get this on my phone soon. I kept asking him to tell me what something was. But the funny thing was after about 15 minutes it completely erased from my memory. Like someone explaining IT to me….just in one ear and out the other.
They do create a pretty pathway.
Again with the textures. The feathery leaves vs the defined ones. The fallen leaves on the pebbles. I certainly could never be this creative. Nature certainly makes me appreciate Mother Earth 🌍
Absolutely serene. It was a perfect day for a hike. No humidity. No people. Just us and the forest.
Always fallen timber adding angles to the usually linear views.
I had to step over this and try to show Allen how I knew he could do it. And of course he did. I told him I wasn’t going to carry him out if he fell and injured himself, but he assured me that’s why God gave him two legs 🙂
We crept down to get a glance of the murky lake.
Allen showing off his strength, which, in all honesty, IS impressive. He was so encouraging for me to just start somewhere. With just one. But I assured him I could not even do them on my knees.
Such beauty in the silence.
Glad we chose the hiking trails instead of pavement. Maybe when I’m 90 I’ll have to stick to the easy sidewalks, but until then, I choose the roots and rocks.
Fungi everywhere from the moisture.
The bark of this short needle pine tree is cool. Not sure why I like it so much but I do.
Never forgetting to look up to notice my place in this grand natural world.
As if my legs weren’t still aching from the walk Nancy took me on up Sycamore Hill, now there were steps to challenge me.
Bridges to cross. Appreciating those who built them, making it easier on us.
This bad boy was screaming at us to say hello.
People placed rocks on this tree’s tumor. Or at least that’s how I see it. Like as if saying, we see you. You got this.
My friend Debbie and I have a thing, whenever we see red berries we say it looks like Christmas. So if either of us see this, we text each other with “Christmas in September”, or whatever month it may be. Guess December won’t be so funny.
Gotta love the new portrait option on the IPhones eh?
Tonya Takes Thailand 