daily commute

I keep forgetting to mention my commute from work to home. We still have only one car so in the mornings m drops me off on the way to his office. And in the afternoons I take the bus home. The bus stop is about a mile away from my office and getting there is the best part of my day. I work at a 91 acre arboretum and garden so we are sort of out of the ways. Our property has walking paths/trails and since we're adjacent to a nature center, I cut through their trails to get to my bus stop. If I didn't cut through I'd have to walk on a curvy mountain road with no sidewalks and crazy drivers who honk at me. I learned that the hard way.

Here are some photos that I snapped along the way. It was an overcast day and I had trouble keeping my hands steady with mosquitoes buzzing around me.

I loved the colors of this plant (can't remember the name) as the afternoon sun hit it. It's part of our gardens at work.


Picturesque stump complete with mushroom.


The stream that leads to skater pond.


Skater pond. It's lovely even with pond scum covering most of it.


The trickle of a waterfall going from skater pond to the stream.


Why are teeny mushrooms so dang cute?


And why do we call them toadstools? Such an ugly sounding word for such a cute looking thing.


A comparison shot with my boot to give an idea of the size.


Not sure what this was but there were a few of them shooting up through the dry brown leaves in only one area of my walk.


The vernal pools are tricky to shoot. Lots of mosquitoes around them.


This fungus makes me think of frilly trim on a retro tuxedo.


And one of the last things I see before I get to my bus stop is a swan. I thought there was a couple, but I only saw one that day caught in the undignified looking activity of fishing. I think he looks like he's drooling a bit. Undignified.