Into the Green Woods

The baby greens of springtime have begun to turn into the more medium greens of early summer. One of my goals for the weekend was to check out the status of the Scotia pine barrens (also known as state gameland - or SGL, for short - 176), a short walking distance from our house.

In particular, I was interested in seeing some lady's slipper orchids if there were any to be found. (They are also known as moccasin flower; learn more about them in Wikipedia.) I was not disappointed. For I found lady's slippers in all of the usual places. They may just be the showiest of all of our native spring blooms. They are large and pink and exotic looking, and you can see a pair of them in my "extra photos" area, lower right.

Along the way, I noted how amazingly sweet the woods look this time of year. There are many shades of green and all of the leaves are looking fresh and new. It looks like a slice of paradise. (Don't be fooled, though; these green woods are bustling with ticks, as well as all manner of buzzing and biting insect. If you head to the woods, know this, and take precautions.) So the main picture I selected to share is a photo of our beautiful green woods, featuring one of the many beaver ponds in the barrens.

A couple of weeks ago, my husband ran into one of the game wardens in the gamelands parking lot. The man had just brought in a male beaver that needed to be relocated (in a cage, of course) and taken it down to one of the main beaver ponds in the gamelands. The warden accomplished this feat via ATV and I honestly wish I could have seen that: a beaver out for the thrill ride of his life!

The gentleman was delighted when my husband told him there might be another beaver here (yes, we've seen one here before, but is it male or female? one wonders) for it to hang out with. So as I stood looking at this scene, I was also wondering and hoping for the beavers to find each other, but only if they wanted to. And then I sent myself into silly giggle fits thinking of them taking out personal ads to arrange this. So I'll end on that note.

The soundtrack has to feature the color green. So here are the Kinks with the Village Green Preservation Society.

Bonus link: a photo of this same scene in snow, featuring the story of seven brides for seven salamanders.