My walk

Every day I take Flan for a walk. Remember, part of my reason for getting her was to force me to walk each day...rain or shine....cause a puppy needs it...even when "mom" doesn't want to go out!!

So..take a walk with me through my world.

We had a terrible storm, edge of hurricane Katia, two days ago. So today, I decided to see what was going on in my woods. Interesting, the name of the woods is Myode...so it's sort of "my own" place to commune with my God while Flanagan explores every inch of it with her nose. She doesn't miss a beat....be it horse poop, animal tracks, mushrooms, moss, pee from some other exploring pooch, racing squirrels...she loves it all!! After a quick survey, all seemed fine, a few things were obviously ruffled with the wind, but mainly everything was as it should be. A lot of horse chestnuts were down, pods from the beech trees scattered, and many hazelnuts were on the ground, but no damage that I could tell.

I love to walk through any deep woods but Ireland is the best because there is very little understory...just moss...it is so wonderful.

The blackberries are ripening, the mushrooms are amazing. Although I don't pick them because I don't know wild mushrooms, I love to find them on the forest floor. Oh what a wonder... the woods could provide quite a diet for someone....fruits, nuts, meat, mushrooms, herbs, life is good. I'd like to be a little critter running through it all.

I read something the other day about the woods at night. If we are afraid, we must ask ourselves...is it "fear" or "danger". I thought how true that was... often we are afraid when we should not be.... There is nothing dangerous about the forest here in Ireland. No cougar tracking you, no grizzlies or wolves. I LOVE it. One day I found a shelter made from limbs....someone had been living there....Although I felt uncomfortable myself..invading such a private place, I thought later, how special that somebody found the woods so comforting that they stayed... I like that.

Photos: My walk through the woods with Flan, remember I said I felt that it was possible that knights on horses could come around the corner at any moment!!; the remains of an ancient rock wall, now covered in moss; a collage of mushrooms; berries (blackberries, sloe berries, GUELDER ROSE [Viburnum opulus]berries.