On Sunday I was driving along east of Torch Lake in need of bucking up. Maybe Lois Dawson would like to go for a walk. When I got over there, Gary was washing windows and Lois was in the kitchen. Maybe this was not a good time. No, it was a fine time. Here, I should bury my nose in this bundle of sage. It would make me feel better. Wait a minute while the beans got started, and we’d go. (Lois and I would go. Gary would stay and tend the beans. He looked suspiciously contented when we left.)
Our walk took us up sandy Meggison Road. Miss Sadie and the Cowboy followed their noses through the underbrush, traipsed through the creek, stared in astonishment at Greg Karam’s chickens. Lois and I looked for dinosaur tracks, checked the progress of the wild grapes, and waded into the Joe Pye weed and goldenrod. We made some guesses about what some other things might be, and took some pictures. I came home refreshed in spirit with a container of tasty beans for my supper.
Shortly afterward, an email popped up. Lois had been consulting her library. Enjoyed our walk today, much like the herbs it was uplifting. The plant with the funny seed pod is Cranesbill. Why? Because the pod resembles a crane’s bill. You saw that one coming didn’t you. The pretty clusters of white flowers are virgin’s bower. The vines grow up to 15 feet long and as we saw “bower” over other plants and small trees. The blue spike flowers were culvers root. I’m sure you already figured all these out. I love books, you can’t go wrong.
So there. The fence is painted yet again.* There is no picture of the blue spike because it was in such poor focus it made no sense to include it. Next time we go for a walk I will be Photographer’s Assistant and Lois will take pictures. Assuming her camera dries out. It seems that she was out and about, and got distracted—but that’s another post entirely.
*For those of you new to these precincts, I am fond of Mark Twain’s famous passage about Tom Sawyer whitewashing the fence. I admire Tom’s ingenuity. I aspire to it. Thanks to Babs Young’s weekly photos and frequent contributions from Katherine and Bruce the Weatherman—and now Lois!—I am getting good at having a “nice, good, idle time.”
Torch Lake Views 
Katy
August 25, 2010
I have often told Lois that in my next life I want to be her grandchild…she knows how to play …Katy
Gerry
August 25, 2010
I tell her that exact same thing! She does indeed know how to play, which has been a very good thing for her children and grandchildren. Play is the work of children. And writers of course. Same thing.
Cindy Lou
August 25, 2010
And I love riding along with you on your journeys of idle time! My day always a smile in it because of you!
Gerry
August 25, 2010
Idle time indeed. Writers are never idle. We’re just grinding our gears . . . 🙂
isathreadsoflife
August 25, 2010
Lovely relaxing post, Gerry. I think you would like walking around my woods too, Nino would introduce the Cowboy and Miss Sadie to his own secret paths full of irresistible smells. You and I would compare our plants, trees, stones, skies, even some ponds… no lake nearby. And the promenade would end in the kitchen around a veges casserole, straight from the garden. Slow cooking… How about that ?
Gerry
August 25, 2010
I am the helpless adoring follower of anyone who cooks for me. Miss Sadie and the Cowboy inquire whether Switzerland has any special requirements for the admission of well-behaved terriers and, um, engaging spaniels?
You would like Lois. She has a gift for making a really good life.