Pinhead Lives! Skunk Cabbage in Moshannon SF

We took a look at the weather forecast, and noted that it included the possibility of rain for pretty much every day EXCEPT this one, for the entire coming week. And then, intent on seizing perhaps the only sunny day, we packed up the car and lit out for Moshannon State Forest, in the woods up above Black Moshannon State Park.

We parked the car and walked down a long gravel road into the woods, and not far down the first hill, we encountered broken glass and bits of metal, from where someone had wrecked into several trees. Most likely it happened during or after one of our recent ice events.

Have you ever really looked at broken windshield glass? It makes all kinds of neat patterns, and still sticks together. Oh, there are sharp bits, of course, so be careful when you do it, but I like to play with the pieces. So I grabbed a couple of nice bunches of broken glass and tucked them into my pocket for closer examination later. Back at the car, I put it all into a tiny zipped baggie, for safety's sake.

And then we walked down along the spring run, and over into a fine, sunny field, where we sat at the edge of it and enjoyed the day. We had our chairs and our books and our tunes box and some snacks and drinks, so we were well set.

My husband had selected an album by Kansas that we seldom listen to, and it almost seemed like they had sneaked some new songs onto it while we had not been paying attention. So we had a laugh about that. Isn't it fun to discover unfamiliar songs on a favorite old album?

As we sat there, I looked around and spotted some skunk cabbage in the soggy field between us and the spring run. I always marvel at these when I see them; sometimes they are among the first wild living blooming things of spring. Amazingly, their flowers are actually able to generate heat!

I thought they looked like Pinhead from the Hellraiser movies. So hey, the news from the woods is that Pinhead lives! But smells a little funny. Did you know that the stinky odor these plants emit is intended to attract pollinators who are drawn by the smell of rotting meat? So it is that skunk cabbage is a refuge for the early pollinators, in providing both sustenance and warmth!

We walked back up and out at the end of the afternoon, and along the gravel road, I discovered several white crocus blooms among a field of bones. I do not know what the bones were from, but I posed them with the crocus blossoms, and thought what a great name Crocus and Bone would be for a weird little shop! Some words of T.S. Eliot did come to mind:

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

Then we were back at the car, and changing from boots to shoes, and that's where we ate our cheese and crackers and pepperoni, which is a fine snack for those in the woods (and for those OUT of the woods, come to think of it), before heading home.

Now, it is my custom to select a song to go along with my stories. And the song that I had picked is this one, by Kansas, as it is one of the ones we are less familiar with: Kansas, with Miracles Out of Nowhere (which could, actually, be the story of my life!).

But there is one more song that I absolutely MUST include, and it is to recognize and celebrate the passing of legendary troubadour of truck-driving songs, C.W. McCall, whose 1975 hit Convoy was a thing of beauty that we children ADORED. As a sidebar, I do wonder how many people who grew up to write LOL-speak on the Internet started out with CB talk. And yes, there was a time when I knew all the lyrics and could recite the whole thing from memory. Some parts of it, I still can! (Coincidentally, a good friend of mine was driving cross-country this past week, and I ended up quoting parts of the song, which I know she also adores, to serenade her along her journey!)

Farewell, sir.
Catch you on the flip-flop!

Rubber Duck, over and out!