A Wintry Walk

After attending a meeting last night about a proposed road to create a new entrance into the Commons (the old state mental hospital site that's just across Division Street from my house), Maisie and I set off this morning to check out the landmarks along the swath in question. It was snowing and blowing and altogether blizzardly, but we pressed on. I was curious about the two champion black willows that had been mentioned in the meeting, and there was no question we'd found them when we came to the scene above. They form an impressive gateway through which the current dirt road passes, with their "feet" in the creek, their massive trunks framing the road, and their branches soaring skyward. Here are a few more photos from that wintry walk. Maybe someday when I'm a better photographer, I'll figure out how to get the light right so that my pictures aren't so dim. Then again, the truth is that winter in Michigan is pretty gray most of the time!

Cattails in the snow

Maisie in the cattails

Milkweed pods and Staghorn sumac

Horsetail and Paper birch