Finally the long awaited reopening of my favorite trail. It is about 4 miles of gravel and supposed to be a mountain bike trail, but there are plenty of hikers and joggers out there as well. It isn't as hilly as the trails on the other side of the road but it sure does seem a lot longer than 4 miles! Most of the trail skirts the lake so it is really gorgeous.
The trail was closed so the Army corps of engineers could rape... excuse me I mean harvest, the trees so it could be reforested with longleaf pine for ecosystem management. Sounds good and the pictures of the future are promising and I am all about reforestation but in the mean time my wonderful lake and forest looks very sorry indeed.
While wandering on the trail we noticed this little pine tree leanto that someone had built looks like to live in for a while. Kind of Gilligan's Island looking if you ask me.
Ok... it is really hard to see but a third of the way from the bottom and just left of center is the very first tiger swallow tail of the year. I was soooooooo excited to see him and just waited and waited for him to quit fluttering around and land somewhere.
the view that the houses from the other side of Waterside have. If the land wasn't so expensive and you didn't have to build a house that is twice as big as what I want.... I'd be over there in a minute. I LOVE my lake and forest. I get so excited every time we cross the bridge from our house to the state park because I know there are just so many new things to see (and yes, we do talk about how high the lake is and if it is back up to normal yet... I am forever monitoring water height). Today there were more trees bursting forth with leaves, the dogwoods were starting to bloom and whatever the lilac trees are were all over the place. I took several deep deep breathes of spring and beauty. I LOVE spring green. Hmm one little snag ... it was 80+ degrees today... about 20 degrees above normal. Sure hope we aren't skipping spring for summer.
The goldfinches seem to have hit the road. Last year they hung around until June. I miss them but don't think I will miss too much spending $50 every other week on bird seed (almost as bad as owning and feeding a great Dane).
I received a wonderful greeting at the airport. The kids are always excited to get the luggage... a feeling I try desperately to emulate...
The cars were a real hit with Isaiah! I just loved watching how carefully he would line them up. There were two in either his hands or his pockets most of the time.
Notice Mater in his pocket. Got him some cargo shorts with lots of pockets for the cars. A little too big and too cold to wear right now, but I have a feeling they will come in handy in a couple of months.
Dave and Isaiah had a great time discussing the line up. Dave built a great track with the present from Lulu and Pasta and Isaiah had the best time lining up his trains and cars and very carefully pushing them around. No crashing please!!!! Such a look on his face when someone actually had the nerve to either move his carefully aligned cars or heaven forbid CRASH them. Well actually he and Ellen got into a little crashing, but mostly it was the very intent lining them up and pushing them either through the tunnels or over the bridges.
The cake really was good, I was amazed at the professional like results! But I think you can tell that his hands and face have already been wiped off once and we still see a somewhat gray like track still remaining. Didn't stick around long though, everyone was clean and stain free by the time they left the kitchen.
