Around my Yard – April 2017

April has been a rainy month for us – so far. I managed to walk around the yard on one sunny afternoon. There is a lot of trimming and cleanout work to be done as soon as we have a few dry days in a row. I am not a gardener so it is a chore that requires some will power to accomplish. I cheered myself up by taking some pictures of little things I noticed as I was assessing the yard: a wasp exploring a past-prime daffodil,

A dandelion – one of the first to bloom this season (pre-emergent is never totally effective),

A self-fungus on one of the larger pieces in our brush pile,

Violets beginning to bloom,

And a scruffy looking robin!

Hiking at Belmont

I took a winter hike at Belmont yesterday. The trek went from the Carriage House at Belmont onto the Patapsco Valley State Park’s Ridge Trail – making a big loop. It was a lot of up and down hiking through the winter forest. I had limited time to take pictures….it was a hike not a photo shoot. I liked the very green moss on this fallen tree – that has been cut up after it fell across the trail.

Sometimes the white of shelf fungus catches attention too.

This log had a mixture of shelf fungus, lichen and moss…quite a variety. There are little plants coming up through the leaves as well; we’ve been having some warmer days than usual this January.

Here we were on the trail. The trees with brown leaves still clinging are probably young beech trees.

As we came out of the forest there was a great view of the Belmont Manor House from over the rolling hills.

By the time we got back to the Carriage House, we were all ready for a snack!