Snowshoeing up Mt. Pritchard

February 22 

The strong black dog lopes

weightlessly in the deep snow  –

ears and tail flying.

zphx 20150222

Hunter's Moon. Mt. Pritchard.

October 18


Hunter's moon. We hike to the moss ledge where we have an open view. It is 8:02 PM, twelve minutes past the peak of the partial eclipse. Crickets are silent. The moon is bright, casting sharp shadows as if daylight; then shines through a moving cloud like a jack-o-lantern cat. The dogs sit and watch the sky. zphx 20131018

The moon shines through 

a cloud like a jack-o-lantern –

the dogs sit and watch.

A walk in the woods, May 22, 2009

This evening Jane asks me to go for a walk in the woods. What a privilege. She is always finding things. "Because i have to look down all the time."

Several sets of coyote scat. Interesting plants. Snails.

Then, "Something was killed here." And, looking down, I see one black and white feather, then more.

"Pileated," she says, "look for the beak." She finds it. A partial skull, red feathers still attached, with powerful beak. She finds a tail feather and shows me its stiffness.

On we hike to the upper trail, bushwack over the ridge to the wetland near our southeast corner, then up the old road in the ravine and finally sit on the mossy overlook on top of the ridge. Blueberries flowering here.

Getting down is a little rough. Too steep near the upper pond. Getting dark, we backtrack and come out on the trail. I stop at the lower view to take a picture of the sunset.

At home after dark: Bats!

Zphx

Mount Pritchard, Age 60

Catching my breath after climbing the ridge,
silver grey light from the pond below,
the sky suddenly close, then dark -- 
a vulture glides by
to see if I’m alive.



Zphx