A challenge accepted

I woke expecting to write about a wonderful concert I attended last night in Ann Arbor.  And I  still plan to write that blog.  But the combination of another blogger’s challenge to take a walk with a camera and find those beautiful things generally overlooked along with this morning’s beautiful frozen fog made me eager to head outside.  So this morning instead of walking my four miles at the mall, I walked “around the block” here at home, a hilly four miles through woods and wetlands with endless possibilities for creative photography.

You can read about the challenge and enjoy my blogger friend’s walks in the Upper Peninsula here:  http://upwoods.wordpress.com/

As it turns out the challenge for me was to limit myself to showing you only six photos.  She challenged us to take a walk around the block; I did and ended up with 120 photos!  I’m trying my best to show you a little bit of everything in the following six.   (I cheated somewhat by not counting the initial picture of tree along the side of the road that someone had decorated with a few red ornaments and a red star.  Out in the middle of nowhere.)

The fog froze in tiny jagged shards of ice that clings along every twig and weed.  I was wishing that I had a SRL digital camera so that I could show you how fascinating it was.  But my little point and shoot did a pretty good job.  I didn’t take my reading glasses along, so I had no idea what I had actually captured until I downloaded at home.

It was tempting to focus on the minutia everywhere, to see all the tiny artwork that had been sculpted overnight.  But the bigger picture was beautiful as well.

Sometimes I thought that I should have been doing black and white photos.  But there were subtle colors everywhere.

Still, some of the most interesting sights were those small places that told a story.  Like this pile of broken nut shells at the base of a tree.  Some squirrel has cleaned house!

And the sad art in the trunk of a dead ash tree, the paths of the ash borer that killed most of the ash trees in our state.

And finally on my way back through town a little bit of civilization; the woodshed in someone’s backyard.  Complete with piles of wood inside.

I have so many other interesting photos, but I accept the challenge of showing you just six.  I wish I could also share with you the sounds and smells along the way.   The scent of a skunk nearby, the woodsmoke from the chimneys of the homes I passed.  The sounds of a cardinal high in a tree, the chickadee chirping nearby, crows flying high calling to each other.  And the church bells, ringing as I came down from the high hills to walk across the wetlands just at the edge of town.

It was a wonderful walk, and I thank my UP blogger friend for challenging me to get outside and walk.  Such a gift.