Stuck in the muck

Sunday I took a short drive to another local nature center (A different one?  I know – gasp!) and had a stroll round the place, largely to clear my head.  The bright sunnyness of the day beckoned, and I complied.

I’ve been here before on enough occasions to be fairly familiar with the lay of the land, but I think it was much like the movie Gone With The Wind.  I’ve seen the whole thing, but always one piece at a time and never all at once.  One could spend 18 hours exploring the trails at Woldumar Nature Center, just like one can take 18 hours watching Gone With The Wind.  To see it all, you’d have to.  The Wife will confirm that, at least in my mind, 18 hours is not an exaggeration of how long GWTW is.

Anyway, because of that fragmented familiarity with the place, I got lost.

That’s okay, though, because one can only get so lost in a place like this, and being lost amid trees and ponds and birds is rather a fabulous way to spend an afternoon.

Unlike my “home” nature center, Woldumar is fraught with hills.  Most of the trails Sunday were good and icy along with being hilly, so I did my best to not look too comical as I lost my footing somewhere around 43 times.  I doubt it worked.  The spots that weren’t icy were dry, though, as it’s not been above freezing here for a few days.

Most of those non-icy spots were dry, that is.

This spot is where I found out, abruptly, that not all the paths were dry if not icy.  As I settled in to this spot for a photograph, I settled in to the muck at the foot of the tree.  Literally.  If you try, you can just hear the squinsh sound of a sneaker sinking into the muck of a nature center muckpool.

After that, I encountered a few more mucky areas – and again tried to not look too comical as I straddled them and tip-toed round them – many more icy patches, the path back to the parking lot (Yes!  Not lost anymore!), and a new beckoning call.

It was cold Sunday, so a hot cup of tea and a warm spot on the couch were starting to call to me.  I bid adieu to the creatures, listened to the warmth beckon, and complied.

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