Monday, March 24, 2008

I Go Out Walkin'

I had a very eventful walk tonight. I saw many wildflowers out and about in Lytton Springs, even a new flower I hadn't seen before and now must identify. There are bluebonnets blooming, but not along the stretch of road that I was walking. All of the blue that I saw was in the form of Bud Light cans. Somebody who drives home on 1854 each night LOVES a Bud Light for the drive home, and seeds the roadsides with their empties. Otherwise it was the usual suspects - vervain, broom, paintbrush, crow poison, dewberries, evening primrose. And a few I didn't expect - wild honey suckle and a small purple bell flower I have yet to identify. I even ran into an old friend- Scoop, the stray kitty who visited the farm late last year. She's filthy dirty, has ditched the undignified collar, and looked a bit thinner than before. But she was crazy for the love, as usual. She stayed in the field across the street where I found her. It was a beautiful evening, cool and gently breezy.I was careful to avoid ant mounds, but it was easy because most of the roadsides had been recently mowed. There were no loose country dogs to scare the bejesus out of me - only fenced barkers. Even a turkey! I stopped several times to admire the huge oak trees growing twisted and massive along my path. I saw a cardinal, and stopped to listen to it twitter. There were solemn cows and horses with their necks bent, intent on the freshly sprouting green food at their feet. I walked home as the sun set on the prairie.

1 comment:

PrairieHomie said...

This is lovely nature writing- you are so good at it, queen of the Butterfly Palace. And I was wondering, just the other day, what happened to Scoop, and here she is without her collar. I suppose this means she's a wild child now.
I heard a robin yesterday when I woke early to grade essays. I stopped everything, opened the window and listened. Such a blessed sound in the early spring in Minnesota.
The Peanut looks more baby every day, when I check in to say "hi."