Come along with us for a little stroll. We’re convalescing and wish to be peaceful.
I forget what we were doing in Elk Rapids, which is a little worrying, but we stopped off at the Birch Lake rest area on our way home and made good use of the facilities. We don’t usually spend a lot of time in manicured parks, so they seem quite exotic to us. Not that this park is manicured in the sense of formal gardens and all that, but . . . OK, it’s mowed and pruned and many feet have trodden the soil into a compacted surface.
Very exotic to us. We are used to brambles and things to climb over and crawl under and get tangled up in. We are used to softer earth beneath our paws.
The poor Cowboy – I made him wear the lampshade collar for a couple of days, thinking it would keep him from chewing out his stitches. He’s such a forgiving little guy that he put up with it, but Miss Sadie thought it was a disgrace, and reminded me what happened to the last one of these instruments of torture to enter our household. I gave heed, and the collar has become a toy for Miss Puss.
I digress. I wanted to show you the morning’s crop of spring flowers: Forget-me-nots and Money plant.
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I’m a big fan of the money plant’s coin-shaped seedpods, but the flowers . . . meh. Still, my spirits lift when I see them, because the more there are, the more likely I am to be able to harvest a nice bouquet of seedpods later. The forget-me-nots are just cheery little things that make me happy. I get blue ones and pink ones and white ones all mixed together, popping up in the yard wherever they take a mind to.
We took a quick turn on the beach. The access path is greening up nicely. The water was sparkling in the mid-afternoon sun, and I wanted to just sit and watch it. That’s what Mickey and Rogie were doing a quarter mile down the way, so we went to say hello. Then I headed off to the day job. We left Rogie watching the Bay. It was still there when I got home tonight. You can trust a Golden Retriever to do a good job.
Torch Lake Views 
P.j. grath
May 4, 2010
The Bay is obviously in good paws. Great shot! Others, too–the leaning trees, the sturdy roots, the china-blue forget-me-nots. And poor little Cowboy, going about his natural sniffing dog ways with the patience of a saint in that collar!
Gerry
May 4, 2010
Thank you. I like the “good paws.” I think I’ll take Miss Sadie and the Cowboy back down to the beach in a little while. We can all just sit and look . . . or do a spin dance, or go wading, depending.
Cindy Lou
May 4, 2010
What a lovely, thoughtful post today, Gerry! Soothing to me somehow. We seem to be about two weeks behind you up here – so I have forget-me-nots to look forward to soon….horray! One of my favorites, too. 🙂 In my next life, I wouldn’t mind coming back as a Rogie – it would be a joy to sit and guard a sparkling lake in the sunshine!
Gerry
May 4, 2010
Thank you, Cindy Lou. It is true that Rogie has a good life, but Mickey says he gets bored during the winter in Florida because he can’t play in the water. Too many alligators.
Scott Thomas Photography
May 4, 2010
I can hear those waves and happy Rogie made sure the Bay was still there. I need to make sure Lake Ontario is still around soon.
Oh, the ring of shame (move “Up” reference, you should watch it, good movie with good messages) on poor Cowboy. I hope he leaves his stitches alone.
Gerry
May 4, 2010
So far so good on the stitches, though the day is young. Must look up the movie.
Anna Surface
May 4, 2010
I miss having a nice stately park to stroll in. What a nice meander. Looks like dear Cowboy is doing fine even with the ‘lampshade.’ We’ve had to lampshade one of ours too because of his constant gnawing at a hotspot and he banged into everything with that thing. 🙂 Lovely Forget-me-nots and beach.
Gerry
May 4, 2010
Thank you, Anna. The Cowboy was banging the lampshade around, too, especially when we trotted up the stairs at the end of our walk. Seemed like the prevention was worse than the risk.
Kathy
May 4, 2010
It looks like a peaceful stroll, indeed. Beautiful flowers! The delights of spring…
Gerry
May 4, 2010
Thank you – it was very peaceful.
flandrumhill
May 7, 2010
I only have blue forget-me-nots which are slowly beginning to bloom. Mine don’t stay in their beds either. Didn’t know there were other colors.
Gerry
May 7, 2010
Maybe the colors shift depending on what’s in the soil? Except mine are all mixed in together. Maybe mine are just eccentric. One way and another, most of us are fairly eccentric here in the Township.