12.18.2010

An Afternoon Stroll

Treebeard and I decided to stretch our legs this afternoon with a stroll down to the pond. Some of the snow that fell on Thursday is still with us and the pond is covered with an icy slush. Below are a few things that caught my eye as we walked.

Bright green fronds of Christmas fern don't seem to mind the snow cover.
A hardy little violet blooms despite the chill.

"Nerve cells" dot the surface of the pond.  The weirdness of water never ceases to amaze me.

Mr. Opossum wanders first one way...
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and then the other.
 
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The varied grays and blacks of the pond in late fall and winter have always appealed to me.



A congregation of cypress knees.
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Oysters on ice :)
 

A view from a "hill" above the pond.
 

A lace collar rings a tree standing in shallow water.
 

A hedgehog fungus hangs on.
 
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The weatherman says we have a slight chance for more snow tonight. It wouldn't hurt my feelings if that didn't happen. I'm a southern girl and too much snow sorta scares me ;-)

7 comments:

Ellen Rathbone said...

Very cool! I love the congregation of knees - it looks like a gathering of some ancient cult...druids, perhaps.

swamp4me said...

Haha, it struck me as a gathering as well. I love cypress knees.

jason said...

The pond really takes on a whole different feel with all the ice and snow. Beautiful, but I can understand that you're tired of the wintry weather already (especially since it's not even officially winter yet!).

And I'm with both of you on the cypress knees. I immediately thought of some ritual taking place at Stonehenge.

Kat said...

The little violet just thrills me!

swamp4me said...

jason,
One or two big snows would be preferable to all these little snows.

As for the cypress knees, I'm convinced they come alive when we aren't looking...

Kat,
The little violets blooming down in the swamp below the house were a pleasant surprise. It has been really cold here for the past few weeks!

KaHolly said...

What a lovely walk. I just learned about cypress knees and find them fascinating. Each photo is delightful, but my favorite is the hedgehog fungus!! Happy Holidays from TX! ~karen

swamp4me said...

karen, I wish I could have gotten closer to the hedgehogs. There were several of them that were larger than the one I photographed. Unfortunately, there was a lot of icy water between me and the fungi!