yesterday at the fen, we explored a side trail along the stream, and i experimented with silhouettes against the big sky.  the fen is now reverting to its stark pre-winter stage, and yet there is still much green life, especially in the water.  as each of the many ghostly white dead trees eventually falls into the swamp, it will provide a habitat for many species to thrive on.  life from death.

of course i included the iconic tree in the swamp.  it’s been about a year since i first started recording its passage through the seasons.  it stands there dead but unchanging amid the vibrant transitory life   flashing by.
i’ll do this in two posts, so please see the sequel.

here is E. with her freshly baked, excellent garlic yeast bread.  it was yum.  we are proud.  she served it with her homemade lasagna, also excellent, not pictured because we ate it all up.

for thanksgiving, she may attempt to reproduce, from childhood memory, her indian grandmother’s authentic fry bread.

typical scenes around our place: flowers from our garden, homegrown culinary herbs, homemade lentil vegetable soup, and asian coconut rice with cilantro.

so there’s this Tree.  it’s in glen helen, and it’s a sculptural masterpiece.  no manmade sculpture comes close, in my opinion.  it’s just perfectly graceful in death.  it’s been around a while, judging from all the inscriptions carved into it.  i’ve adopted it, and can’t seem to get enough photos to do it justice.  thus, once again i’m devoting one whole post to the same tree.  so call me a treehugger.

the rest of the hike, to the famous yellow (irony) springs, waterfall, creek, woods full of contrasting green and colors, fascinating fungi, and even some flowers holding on, will follow.  we were glad to see expansion of the boardwalk, although it’s not technically a wetlands.

once again, i made homemade pumpkin pies from scratch (and i mean literally from scratch) plus roasted seeds.  flowers are still blooming, and i was sweating in the kitchen, on this unseasonably warm autumn erev.  not that i’m complaining!  we’re fortifying ourselves to hibernate through another winter in ohio.  PS. the pies came out well, if i do say so myself.  E. seconds it.  proof is in the eating.

yesterday we climbed up the ancient indian mound from which you can see the autumn woods all around, and then hiked along the huge ancient rocks by the creek, and the dam/waterfall plunging down.  there is nothing more tranquil than autumn trees reflected in water.  snakes and other critters were out enjoying the quite warm day for this time of year. we hit the fungus motherlode.  the log cabin is one they unearthed from the 1800s and are restoring.  fortunately the county parks and trails levy passed by a slim margin, so they can continue to be funded.  as usual, i’ll post this in several parts.