Blissed Out

The weather the last few days has been delightful. We've taken evening walks in our woods after work yesterday and today both. Our woods are small, so the walks don't amount to much in terms of exercise for anyone except the cat. But he enjoys himself so much it's hard to resist. Often times if we want to take a longer walk to Stormwater Park or Tall Trees Cemetery, we have to lock him in the house to keep him from following us too far from home.


Aside from the brevity factor, the woods are a satisfying place to walk. I am in an urban area, so the heavy skew towards invasives is not unexpected: buckthorns and garlic mustard rule my woods. Still, I can keep an eye on the local phenology, be it what it may. Viola blanda is native and flowering. We often see deer or rabbits; today we saw coyote tracks bigger than seems possible. We made a fortuitous discovery on one of our regular deer path routes: a clump of Nepeta cataria, also known as catnip. Dude is psyched.