Another Walk

I had some time alone today, so I went another walk, more or less through the same place I went before. I'm out of shape and thoroughly citified, so every once in awhile I try to get out and walk on uneven, unpaved surfaces, where trees and bugs and leaves and streams do what they like without a second thought for whether or not I might sprain my ankle.

Before I got started, I took a few pictures of clouds, because, gosh darn it, I like clouds!





I like to go down to this stream because it's so close to Wood's and Mom's apartment. If one is going to go through all of the trouble of getting away from sidewalks and benches, it's nice not to have to go too far to do it.

This is the path where they really want us to walk:


But this is where I like to go:


I got a few reasonable pictures this time. Since it's the tail end of winter and we're only just getting our first spring rains and spring temperatures, it's not very green yet. But it's still a lot prettier than the Los Angeles River/Flood Control.




Besides the idea of going someplace not many other people go (though someone else goes there, to judge by the trash), all of the little miniature landscapes set my mind racing. I don't know if it's leftover imagination from my StarWars Men days, or if it's my eyes looking for good movie backdrops, or what, but there are so many cool little holes and coves and inlets and root structures.






I also really like trees:



I found one particularly interesting tree:

It's difficult to tell from that angle, but there are two lips of bark that wrap around an empty space, as though it were hugging another imaginary tree. Here's a top-down view:

Yup, that's my pants leg, and yup, it's drenched at the bottom. I misjudged a jump across the stream (you have to keep jumping back and forth, since the stream wanders and undercuts tall banks on alternating sides) and made quite a splash!

The camera goes where my head doesn't, so some things I discover later. It looks like the tree's missing his imaginary friend so much, it's eating away at him.

When I got here, I decided I'd come to the end of my journey upstream. Maybe someday I'll see how far I can go downstream.


Springtime's not far away!