Green, summer green

It was a day of riding, a day of walking, a day of wondering at all of the green around me.

A morning ride was in my head today, but when I first set foot outside the ground was wet from overnight rain. My bike insisted that I wait until the pavement was dry, so...

I headed out on a mystery ride at about noon. I was wandering on familiar roads, familiar in the opposite direction, that is. It's funny, but when I'm traveling "backwards" things look different. (It keeps me amused, anyway.)

Today's discovery was Weir Hill, a piece of land owned by The Trustees of Reservations. I don't remember ever seeing the sign before although it clearly has been there for a while. I stopped to look at the map of hiking trails, and then continued my ride. A seed was planted in my mind.

My bike & I rolled home. It was time for a quick snack, time to grab appropriate (non-biking) shoes for walking in the woods, and I was off again, back to Weir Hill. I spent a pleasant hour wandering there, and I'm sure that I will visit again. It's not far from home, and with the solid presence of trees I think it will be a beautiful autumn spot. What a good find!

My timing was exquisite. When I arrived home again the sky still showed blue if I looked straight up, but if I looked to the north I saw gray descending. I thought I heard occasional thunder as I was walking, but thunder and blue sky doesn't bring much worry. I was home for all of 15 minutes when the late afternoon brightness left the sky.

Crack! Flash! That crack of thunder was so loud it made me jump! And then the rain came...