A Walk Through the Woods...

I was away for a little bit, but now I'm back! And where did I go? Well...I went for a walk in the woods...

Moosewood that is. The yearly ritual that started with my great-grandfather. Moosewood is the hunting lodge him and his buddies built way back almost 100 years ago in the Adirondacks. Once a year everyone from my dad's side of the family gathers there to live like they did in the old days and to relax, go swimming, hiking, shoot cans with bb guns, eat lots of junk food or simply just rock on the porch in those old chairs that have beaver teeth marks on them from when they were left out over night.

My sister Sara and I went for a long and wonderful walk almost as soon as we got there. She wanted to test out my camera, so she took lots of pictures of everything and anything.

I was searching the forest floor for interesting specimens...

Like this silly little caterpillar who was trying to dig his head in the sand.

Or this beautiful array of toadstools...and one puffball.

We found a long horned beetle and had to compare it to my tattoo to make sure it wasn't the bad invasive kind that kills trees...it wasn't. My sister got some beetle tattoos from dontmovewood.com or something like that. Ben got the matching beetle. And no, not real ones tattoos! :)

A "tiny" posted sign to keep unwanted hunters and fisherman out.

A pine needle mustache and pine cone eyeballs.

I held my hair up woodland fairy style....

...and then my sister elaborated on the whole concept.

She found a log in a tree.

And I managed to get the camera from her and snap some pretty pictures of my pretty sister.

Mud people...

The King Gnome's throne.

Can you see me?

How about now?

Some pretty red leaves! Fall is coming!! Yippee!

One of the best parts of Moosewood territory? Mud puddles galore! Frogs love to live there.

But we can also swim in the stream, or just bring some water into the air.

Happy trails summertime! :)