Looking forward to the bloom.
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Sorry. The red picture tagged along.
I love plants which is why I studied forestry and range management.
We have been in a drought for the last few years, but now the Snow Gods have answered our prayers. This year will likely be a good time for botanizing.
I went on a week long raft trip a few years ago in NE Oregon. I brought along a friend who collects seed for a living. We were able to identify every plant we encountered over the 70 mile trip. No Unks.
Ppine, I’m typically obsessed with keeping logs, and going faster to go further, but when the season starts bringing out the flowers and the scented blossoms, I turned to exploring. My log shows observations as well as the location so I can return at the right time of the year. When I returned to kayaking last year, the pictures posted made me notice more of my surroundings, and I was able to see detail that I often passed by without notice.
For now, there is so much more. Despite the discomfort, there’s beauty in all of it. The open expanse, being knocked about by the waves, unobstructed views of building thunderstorms, the vulnerabity, sharing the water with mighty machines, the choreography and art of propulsion, and the things a picture can’t capture - the smell of open water, wind in your hair . . . the Tug of competing currents.
I do enjoy tranquil rivers and lakes at times, but I enjoy nothing more that gauging the forces of wind, tides and converging rivers, then calculating how the combined elements will impeded estimated progress. It’s a race against forces you can’t quite predict and definitely don’t control. At times. There’s the satisfaction of calculating the exact time a trip will end, as well as the possibility you’ll paddle until you’re unsure if you’ll have the energy to make it home. That’s what I really miss.
When my ability to compete, to go fast or far, reaches a peak, it will be good to know where I can find things close at hand.
Well, the juniper and cedar is going to town blooming in the wind we have today. I don’t miss any of that pollen. That’s what a few days of 80 degrees will do around here. Please pass the Flonase (sp).