Back to the Woods

Early September. I've been away from the Woods most all summer.
Saturday morning at the NW Gate. Brief, two hundredths of an inch of rain at dawn has wet leaf surfaces glinting in the eastern light but left the ground below largely undampened. Sun illuminated perfect orb webs spun here and there across the trail, mostly the white-backed Micrathena. The trail to the NW pond all looked well and untrammeled, not many visitors recently. Trees looked  like they had done well this growth year, mildest and wettest August in 10-15 years. NW Pond was covered with a good healthy growth of scum, good organic matter, lots for aquatic herbivores to eat. Eastern Pond is about one third full with dark water.. almost black prob. from leached tannin.
A few flowers blooming: some Elephantopus elephant's foot and yellow asters along the eastern Tree Loop.
Mosquitoes were fairly abundant, but not pests with a little DEET. Much of the floor of the NE Woods, west of the Wash had been scoured by flooding in the recent heavy rain Tuesday Aug 22. The water must have breached the western levee north of Island Crossing and flowed SW across the Woods, pushing leaves, branches, logs with it and leaving bare soil - soon to be recovered with autumn leaves. Leaf litter and debris pushed all the way along N Loop Trail to near the Eastern Pond.
  Nice growth of fresh mushrooms, clump of Coprinus deliquescing east of the Eastern pond. Various round puff ball spheres soft orange. Beautiful fresh white shelf fungi.
  Around the tree loop there were 20-30 full fresh plums down below the Mexican plum, fairly sweet with considerable tannin to pucker the mouth. Down along the main East west trail there were fresh green pecans clipped and dropped by squirrels. The green shells with a wonderful lemony tannin pungency.
  South end of the Tree Loop the oldest red bud had fallen across the trail. I thought about trees I had seen alive in the Woods, growing, blooming; had seen die; had watched decay; that are now fallen. Some years gone by. I thought about friends at home, high school classmates, recently passed. Nice to see vigorous trees here old and middle aged and know they will be standing here after I am gone.