Tuesday, April 26, 2011

An Easter-eve Walk

Thornapple at Flood Stage
I've been a little busy this week and haven't had time to get creative about my Saturday afternoon hike along the Paul Henry Trail (Old Michigan Central Railroad).  The river was running high, but with a short break in the weather, I ventured out and walked 7 or 8 miles along the trail.


Is it a duck egg?
 With a daughters who is now a teenager and no longer interested in dying and hiding eggs, I didn't go on a single Easter egg hunt.  But I did find an egg, located only 25 or 30 feet from the river.  Be of its size, I'm assuming it must have come from a duck.  I did see a number of mallards and a pair of wood ducks on my walk.


Things are still bare (a few trees had red buds visible). But, if you look at the ground, there are small flowers already in bloom. I didn't see any trilliums, a sure sign that Spring is here, but they are not generally out until May.
It's odd for us to have flowers blooming outdoors for Easter, but the holiday came so late this year that we did have a few flowers blooming.

Along the way, I saw a wild turkey (not the liquid variety), lots of waterfowl, robins, cardinals, redwing blackbirds, a kingfisher, squirrels and several rabbits (must have been preparing to deliver Easter baskets).   Oh, there were also a few early mosquitoes.

Early Easter morning, I was out in front of church and, before the sun rose, there was an ensemble of birds singing.  Down by the river, we could hear a pair of sandhill cranes and up the road a bit, breaking the beautiful music, was a rooster.  As it did for Peter, the crowing of the rooster reminded us of our human limitations. 

I hope you had a nice Easter.
Old Michigan Central trestle

14 comments:

  1. Finding that egg is cool. I hope it's still viable but I have my doubts. Sounds like a fine Easter day.

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  2. Glad you had the chance to get out and about.

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  3. There's high water everywhere. This Sunday, I'm anticipating a sermon about Noah.

    Cheers.

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  4. Ahh, just seeing the pics gives me a sense of relaxation. Lovely.

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  5. What a wonderful walk. The water there IS quite high! (My water is still in ice form here and there:)
    I'm glad you had your own Hunt of sorts.....it's sometimes nice to go on a grown-up one!

    (As Easter came so late this year- I THOUGHT we would have blooms, but spring is late too....Something must be holding it all up!)

    Have a great week.

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  6. What a lovely walk and odd that the egg was just there out of a nest. Hope it is OK.

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  7. Sage .... I've got to take that hike on of these days, I'll get directions from you. There are so many things that are reminding me of my increasing limitations; thanks for the photo's, I really like them.

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  8. I did, but the only wildlife I saw was at the Marriott brunch! lol

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  9. so if you can walk 7 or 8 miles on a trail, you can do a half marathon!

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  10. Put on the Waders Bro!!!

    The Egg Quacked me up--saw a nice Turkey yesterday myself, had a blowout on the boat trailer--of course with no spare- (My buddies)..but we were blessed with Deer, and Ten Big Bream!!!

    Great post--now go Fishing!

    J

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  11. I must agree with Hilary about the egg find as wonderful! Many memories of Michigan were stirred for me here, Sage--all good ones!

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  12. What, really?? no more dying eggs! I bet one day when she's all grown up and you'll be a (Grandpa) the joy of dying eggs and the hunt will be back on in full force! I'm happy you found AN egg anyway though....your walks always sound like loads of fun, and so much to absorb from nature! Happy up coming weekend....let's hope for SPRING!

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  13. This sounds like a great walk. And I like to hiking along rivers and streams when they're high - a greater sense of adventure.

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