Approaching Memorial Day

 Here we are, Memorial Day Weekend 2021. Its been a great spring around these parts this year, with lots of bright sunny days. Unfortunately, my computer suddenly went kaput and I lost all of my photos. These pictures above were from my last couple of hikes in April, that I still had saved on my camera.

The Covid crisis appears to be winding down around here as more and more people (myself included) become vaccinated. Masks have been shed by most hikers on the trails again, and my own confidence in staying healthy increases by the day. What an unbelievable year it has been. With the renewal of spring, and revisiting old hiking trails, it just feels wonderful.

The school year is winding down and I'm contemplating hiking the C@O Canal Trail for a couple weeks again, after school lets out. 

Early Spring 2021: Emerging From a Long Slumber

Virginia Bluebells

Snowdrops

Lesser Celandine

Potomac River

Sycamore

Spring Peepers

Frog Eggs in Vernal Pool

Spring Beauties

Pair of foxes

Gnarley old mountain laurel

Creek treasures

 Early Spring 2021. It feels like I'm emerging out of a long quarantined slumber. In person school restarted last week and I have been fortunate to receive both vaccine doses. It seems like my quarantined pandemic journey is coming to an end. Our school is operating at about 50% in person capacity. Traffic is still light on local roads and highways for the most part. My car is up and running again...barely. The check engine light is on, the car moans, squeaks, and sounds like grinding metal when I make sharp turns. I've got 285,000 miles on it, hoping to get a few more months out of it if possible. The days are getting longer and we are getting some glorious crisp, sunny days. The forest is just beginning to come back to life. I've started revisiting some old trails that I haven't seen in a year after work. I still have a lot of mental work to do as I try to adjust to a less socially distant world. I still feel uneasy seeing and having passing maskless people on trails as the numbers are increasing with the better weather.. I still carry mine and put it on passing people. It will take time to readjust. 

This is my favorite time of year, as each day becomes more interesting in the forest as the plants and creatures emerge. It feels good to see a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, I remain cautiously optimistic...

Winter

"Christmas Star" Jupiter and Saturn

Some asshole thought it would be fun to take a 4 wheeler onto the neighborhood trail, destroying numerous small trees and mountain laurel plants

cold temps

 Winter continues it's icy grasp around here. It's snowing again outside as I type this. 2020 has come and gone and 2021 is here. Life is still severely impacted by the pandemic. We are now 11 months in, and hopefully there is light at the end of the tunnel as vaccinations are slowly rolling out. The little neighborhood woods are still my main source of natural nourishment. I have been trying to get a 25 to thirty minute hike in every day during my lunch break from zoom school. Speaking of school, it looks as if schools around here will attempt to re-open and resume in person learning next month. We'll see how it goes.

In the meantime, I've been keeping busy with zoom school and learning the fiddle. Time seems to be passing quickly in this simplified lifestyle. Again, my car has been rarely used. All of my musician friends have gone into socially distant hibernation for the winter. The neighborhood trail continues to see an increase in hikers and occasionally the bad behavior that is associated with increased numbers of human activity. Most hikers wear masks these days, or at least when passing. 

Spring will be here before we know it.

First Snow of the Season

We are getting our first snow of the season today. I went for a hike in the nearby woods as it was just getting started. Where I live, we just missed getting hammered with what could have easily been over a foot of snow. Instead it looks like it will be an inch or two, followed by rain, followed by more snow. Just to the west will be getting a LOT more.

Otherwise, time marches on around these parts. 2020 is almost over. I'm sure I can speak for many when I say "good riddance." The pandemic is reaching it's worst phase at the moment, thankfully the vaccine has also just arrived and is being distributed as I speak. I'm hoping for some "normalcy" or an approach to normalcy come spring and summer. 

I've been really really grateful for the small patch of woods nearby. The pandemic has forced my world to shrink, and those woods have been such a source of mental stress relief. I know many are not as fortunate. For me it underscores the necessity of forests for our mental health and overall well being. 

Masks have become the norm, even in the woods around here. If others are not wearing them, most bring one along it seems, and most choose to mask up when approaching another hiker. I've been able to get a 30 minute hike in almost every day during my lunch break. I tend to take side trails or bushwhack to avoid crossing with other people for now. The woods near my house have become popular in recent years, with a public trail created through them for the first time a few years ago. So I see people everyday, although I would say numbers have decreased slightly since the beginning of the pandemic and when the weather was nicer. 

Winter solstice and the shortest day of the year will be here shortly. We will see what winter has in store. Until then, I just keep taking one day at a time...

Fall

Weaverton Cliffs

Moon and Mars

 Fall 2020 is here. We've had a really nice October here in Maryland, with lots of color and mild temperatures, and a handful of nice warm days. Very little wind to speak of. Leaves are at or near peak color and starting to fall off trees as I speak. Crickets are still out at night, but their chorus is diminishing. My tomato plants are at the end of their season, but still producing flowers, and a few still producing tomatoes. The first frost has not yet arrived.

My world has shrunk significantly due to the pandemic. My car sits out front, rarely used. I'm working from home online. I'm living at home with my eldery parents, so I take very few social risks, because I don't want to get sick and bring it home. I feel pretty good all things considered. I get a good 45 minute walk in everyday during my lunch break, mostly around the neighborhood. I dip into the neighborhood woods almost daily, but I don't hike on the trails that often. Maybe I'm being overly cautious, but I don't like the fact that I can barely social distance on the trail when passing people. Most don't wear masks in the woods, although some have adopted a new trail etiquette of masking up before passing. I took one short trip out to the AT with my brother and nephew last month, and we hiked up to Weaverton Cliffs. Again, the steady flow of other hikers on the trail made me uneasy, so I probably won't do that again for a while. Honestly, the approaching winter makes me apprehensive.

So I, along with countless others I'm sure, are trying to find meaning and enjoyment in the little things this social distanced life has to offer at the moment. Even though I long for big wilderness now more than ever, its nice to know there is enjoyment to be found from the neighborhood woods, the short walk, the changing leaves, the sunny day, the mushroom patch, the autumn wildflower bloom, or the rising full moon.