A Saturday Walk

We had some glorious weather this Labor Day weekend. Saturday was beautifully blue-and-white, a perfect day for a walk to the prairie restoration project.

Goldenrod continues to march across the countryside, warning all and sundry of cooler weather to come:

Baby-fine wild grasses drift like rosy smoke over the green of the fields:

Clouds of small white asters look up to the sun:

The hot pale skies of summer are beginning to give way to the deeper blue of approaching autumn.

Sun shining through a Favourite Tree:

At my feet grow chickweed with its tiny white flowers, unwelcome in the garden but somehow appropriate here in the open...

...and the delightfully-named Butter-and-eggs, a wild member of the snapdragon family:

Honeysuckle berries gleam brightly:

At the pond, three Canada geese stand stiffly to attention, keeping a wary eye on the human with the camera:

Blue vervain waves sinuous green flower spikes studded with the tiniest of lavender blossoms:

Looking up the frilly trunk of a river birch:

Milkweed pods at the edge of the prairie restoration project:

False sunflower (I think), with a small grasshopper:

Speaking of grasshoppers, the trail is lively with them. At every step, they shoot off like small green fireworks around my feet.

Around the corner, a hickory nut bides its time, waiting for the big jump:

Dark-red seeds of a wild grass, like a spray of minute rosebuds in my hand:

I think these tiny blossoms might be White Sweet Clover:

Back in the grass near the edge of the pond grow ruffle-edged mushrooms...

...and round-headed taupe-coloured ditto:

My circuit of the prairie restoration project is complete; it's time to head for home.

A good walk on a beautiful day. Maybe fall won't be so bad after all.... :)

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