Circumnavigating The Pond

 

I'd been thinking about a walk around the pond for several days.

It was such a lovely morning Friday, I decided it was the right time for that walk.

Starting point - the Clematis. Its blooms are smaller this year, but so much more numerous.

 

I thought there would be some Elderberries but it looks like the birds are keeping them picked clean.

 

Viewed from the bank this looked like some kind of fungus growing on a cattail.

It wasn't until I had the picture on the computer that I could see it was cattail fluff.

I had seen the Purple Ironweed at the pond before, but not that white flowering plant.

What is it?

As nearly as I can figure out, this is Meadowsweet.

I did remember to smell the flower as well as take some photos and it did have a sweet aroma. 

Two favorites - Queen Anne's Lace and Bull Thistles flowers.

How did this lone Sunflower get planted here?

The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind.

I knew this purple leafed plant was a member of the Shamrock family, but had to look it up.

Creeping Woodsorrel is the common name for this Oxalis corniculata. Its petite yellow flowers are so tiny.

There's another creeping plant in this photo - Creeping Charlie.

There is more to that far corner than I can see from the house. It is the area that I see the fox run back in to and there are two well worn paths heading into the trees and brush.

There is also this old corner post, fittingly constructed from a railroad tie as it stands just below the BNSF rail line.

It wasn't just the sights I was seeing it was also one of my favorite summertime smells accompanying me on my trip around the pond.

There is nothing like the scent of new mown hay to evoke all those old summer memories.

There are many varieties of tree saplings growing at the pond's edges. 

The red leaves of these maples really stood out.

So did that white flower floating on the pond. (It is actually the underside of a poplar leaf on another sapling.)

The pond looks so very different when seen from this southwest corner. It is so nice to have the fountain going again. And you would never know that downtown Creston was just a mile or so away on the other side of that tree line.

As I rounded that last corner and started back toward the house, I heard a bird start up its call to warn all other creatures nearby that there was an interloper in the neighborhood. 

Of course I knew before I saw it in the top of the corkscrew willow that it was a Redwing Blackbird.

My only concern was whether or not it was going to dive bomb me as the ones along the lane did when I was a child bringing up the milk cows.

Fortunately, it was content to sound the alarm and watch me leave the area.

I was only gone a half hour or so, but I traveled many realms - including the one of memory.