Hard to believe it is that time again, time for the Winter Walk-Off, a blog meme sponsored by my friend Les at A Tidewater Gardener. The rules are the same as last year, and all previous years-- Powered under your own two feet, explore your area and photograph it. No photos of your own garden. Post your walk and link back to Les' blog. His post is here, so you can read the fine details. Participants have a chance to win one of two prizes. I can attest to the fact that the prizes are pretty nice.
So on with our walk. Last year, well really a year ago Thanksgiving, we started walking. I mentioned my daily steps last year in my Walk-Off post. Last year my daily goal was 11,000 steps a day. I increased my goal to 12,500 sometime this winter. A daily walk, regardless of the weather, is good for you. I am so glad we walk, though there are days where I am not as motivated as others.
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| Our neighborhood street, heavy traffic |
As we walked today, I noticed how early all the trees are budding and some are blooming. This is the time of year where I like seeing the pears. The white blooms are pretty, but what a weedy, thorny, invasive, weak-wooded tree.
The Houstonia sp., Quaker Ladies or Little Bluets, are blooming now. We have a couple different varieties. H. caerulea and H. pusilla are the most common.
Such sweet little blooms
As I said, we walk, the 'we' being my husband and I with our dogs. This past October we got a new puppy, my husband is walking her in this photo. Liebling is a German Shepherd. She will be 6 months old on Thursday. To see more puppy pictures, check out my Flickr link on the sidebar.
Here she is with our older dog, Skyler. He is thirteen years old and still active. Today we walked to our neighborhood gazebo- a longer walk than what we have done since getting Liebling, about 4 miles round trip.
More early bloomers are the vines native to our area, Carolina Jessamine, Gelsemium sempervirens. It usually blooms a month or so later.
Another tree blooming is the Winged Elm, Ulmus alata. Rather a scruffy tree, but with the 'winged' appendages it is quite sculptural.
I hadn't planned on taking photos for this post today until I encountered this little guy--
The warm weather has the frogs singing and the snakes emerging. This is the first snake of the season for us. All photos for this post were taken with my cell phone!
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| Brown Snake |
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| See, not that big! |
©Copyright 2017 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford.
words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.
Fun post! Such a lovely area of the world. My Carolina Jessamine, is also blooming but not early!
ReplyDeletethanks Laurin, we sure love living here.
DeleteGood for you--walking every day! I tend to walk more regularly in spring, summer, and fall. It's hard to get motivated on the really cold winter days. (Our recent warming trend has been weird, but good for walking.) You have so many beautiful wildflowers blooming! And how fun to encounter a little snake! Thanks for taking us along on your walk.
ReplyDeleteBeth - your winter months are so harsh, I can understand not being out for long.
DeleteI haven't seen any snakes yet, but if you've got them out, I assume we do, too! I love that little brown snake. Such a cutie!
ReplyDeleteYou're inspiring me to do a Winter Walk-Off post, too, but I have to remember to actually get it done in the next few weeks. These days my attention span seems to have shrunk considerably.....
Cynthia, we do love our snakes, don't we?
DeleteThank you so much for joining in, Janet - it wouldn't be a walk-off without you. I can't believe that Carolina jessamine and snakes are out already. It makes me wonder if this is just an anomaly, or something else. Is Liebling keeping Skyler young and active, or just getting in the way of a good nap?
ReplyDeleteThanks Les, I love doing the walk-off posts. Liebling is the thorn in Skyler's side.
DeleteI love walking too and seeing what there is to see along the way. I find that it not only exercises the body but also calms the mind. I think we are still a couple of weeks away from blooms, but with this wacky up and down weather, you never know.
ReplyDeleteI agree Margaret, love walking, it is calming.
DeleteI enjoyed strolling along with you on your walk, and didn't even have to go outside into the cold! It was warmer here just a few days ago and was seeming very springlike, but not today! It is a nice sight seeing that the Pear trees are already producing blooms where you are. They should start here within the next few weeks.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lee.
DeleteLoved your Winter Walk-off post. I've been tardy this year, I might have to head out at lunch time today for my winter walk-off. I'm sure the snakes loved the early warm weather and the black asphalt is the perfect place to soak up some heat even with the dangers from passing traffic. Glad you moved her aside. Take care, David.
ReplyDeleteThanks David, enjoy!
DeleteLovely to see a little more of your neighbourhood Janet. I'm glad you put in that final shot of the snake - it loomed large in the other one!
ReplyDeleteThanks VP, we do enjoy finding our snakes.
DeleteHey Janet! I agree with VP about the snake. And I'm so impressed with your walking! How long does it take you to get 12,500 steps? I'm getting fewer instead of more...yet another thing I need to get back to doing. Looking forward to seeing you in a few weeks.
ReplyDeleteThanks Daricia, we walk about an hour and a half to get the majority of our steps.
DeleteSince we started hiking with U3A there is more Life Happens and less blogging in my life.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful to step out of the door and walk a quiet road between forests.
Yes Diana, we really enjoy the quiet road.
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