![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
A walk in the woods
Oct. 8th, 2021 06:50 pmDidn't have any grand plans for my birthday, in part because I had a half-day of pots in the studio waiting for handles, trimming, whatever the next step might be. Thought about driving up to Corvallis to the Finley Wildlife Refuge, but by the time we were both free, it was nearly 2 pm, so instead, we drove out west of town to Fern Ridge Reservoir.
There are actually four different parks around the lake. My favorite is Kirk Park, across Clear Lake Road from the dam. I used to drive this way every two weeks, delivering hummingbird feeders to Slippery Bank pottery, and we'd walked around the park a few times back then.
28 years ago.
It's been expanded a bit since then, more paved paths, which made it a bit easier for Denise to navigate. Didn't see a lot of bird life, beyond a couple of egrets as we drove in, but lots of lovely fall colors.
Red oak and vine maple...
...something I don't recognize, and something I think I do. Shiny red leaves, in clusters of three; I think that one's poison oak. I did not touch it to test. The lacy green leaf in the middle is our native Evergreen Blackberry, much rarer than it's invasive cousin, the Himalayan Blackberry.
Wild rose hips also gave a lovely pop of red, especially when framed against a blue pond.
They'd cut down a few old white oak trees. Amazing patterns. I tried counting rings on the stump, but they get so fine as you move outward.
I don't know what variety of pine or spruce this is, but there were two, covered by tiny cones. And as we were leaving, we met this smol, fierce friend on the path.
Came home and worked on drawings for a book project, then tried to go out for supper, but our favorite Indian restaurant is doing take-out only, so we ordered Chicken Makhani and Lamb Koorma, with rice and naan, and took it home to eat.
And the chocolate potato cake was fabulous!
There are actually four different parks around the lake. My favorite is Kirk Park, across Clear Lake Road from the dam. I used to drive this way every two weeks, delivering hummingbird feeders to Slippery Bank pottery, and we'd walked around the park a few times back then.
28 years ago.
It's been expanded a bit since then, more paved paths, which made it a bit easier for Denise to navigate. Didn't see a lot of bird life, beyond a couple of egrets as we drove in, but lots of lovely fall colors.
Red oak and vine maple...
...something I don't recognize, and something I think I do. Shiny red leaves, in clusters of three; I think that one's poison oak. I did not touch it to test. The lacy green leaf in the middle is our native Evergreen Blackberry, much rarer than it's invasive cousin, the Himalayan Blackberry.
Wild rose hips also gave a lovely pop of red, especially when framed against a blue pond.
They'd cut down a few old white oak trees. Amazing patterns. I tried counting rings on the stump, but they get so fine as you move outward.
I don't know what variety of pine or spruce this is, but there were two, covered by tiny cones. And as we were leaving, we met this smol, fierce friend on the path.
Came home and worked on drawings for a book project, then tried to go out for supper, but our favorite Indian restaurant is doing take-out only, so we ordered Chicken Makhani and Lamb Koorma, with rice and naan, and took it home to eat.
And the chocolate potato cake was fabulous!