Sunday, April 05, 2009
A walk in the spring woods
I love the woods in the early spring when the sun shines through the trees and the undergrowth sprouts leaves. It creates a visible green layer for just a week or two, until the leaves come out on the trees. Well, this afternoon I took the Spaniels on a walk in Princeton's Herrontown Woods, a virtually deserted forest preserve less than a mile from our house, and got a couple of nice pictures of the "green layer" and other woodland sights.
An old wall, presumably dating from some 19th century rocky farm...
Back home, Harry's Brook runs through our back yard...
First violets...
The wild Spaniel of the woods...
10 Comments:
By 
, at
Sun Apr 05, 07:06:00 PM:
2" of snow on the ground at my house this morning.
By 
TigerHawk, at
Sun Apr 05, 07:11:00 PM:
Don't worry, global warming will get there eventually.
By Donna B., at
Sun Apr 05, 07:52:00 PM:
Beautiful dog! And scenery. I'm always amazed at the different arrival dates of spring.
When I become very wealthy, I'm going to prolong spring from the earliest blooms of the south to the latest of the northeast on an extended road trip.
All our trees are in full leaf, the azalea blooms are falling off...
By Andrea Henneman - Owner, at
Sun Apr 05, 08:57:00 PM:
Hey - nice photos! Tom and Kay enjoyed them too. Have a good night.
By , at
Sun Apr 05, 10:16:00 PM:
TH...Nice photos of a nice woods for passive recreation. I am in the process of trying to preserve a similar place in NJ next door to a middle school. Dear God...please help me find another 1/2 million for it. We have already preserved about 200 acres adjoining it recently. This piece connects it to the school.
We already have five different sources of funding on the property which is the only way you can do preservation deals now with money so tight.
I thank the people who preserved your wonderful woods in Princeton.
Its an enormous amount of work if you are preserving in a prime area or a contentious one.
The dog photo is great!
a moderate
By , at
Sun Apr 05, 10:36:00 PM:
ah, the skunk cabbage, and a mud-free Spaniel!
By TigerHawk, at
Sun Apr 05, 10:52:00 PM:
The Spaniel was not mud-free throughout the walk -- the woods are, in fact, almost swampy this time of year. But there is a fairly deep running stream right toward the end of our walk and I "invited" them to clean off before getting back in the car.
By Drake, at
Mon Apr 06, 12:17:00 AM:
Beautiful pictures. You don't see pictures like that here in Florida ...
By Elise, at
Mon Apr 06, 10:13:00 AM:
I love that first green haze. My first Spring in NJ - arriving from Houston - I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.
By GreenmanTim, at
Mon Apr 06, 12:08:00 PM:
It would be in excessively poor taste for me to dwell on the invasive characteristics of the shrubs that provide that ethereal green haze. Let me instead praise your lovely close up of the nature spring ephemeral wildflower "Bloodroot", which opens its winking yellow eye for just a few short days early in the season. The skunk cabbage aside from its signature stench, is also notable for maintaining an internal temperature that is warm enough to melt through snow and frozen ground and attract the earliest pollinators.
