i tried to get lost in the woods today but ended up exactly where i was headed. i found cranberry in the bud and last year's fruit fermented in the moss. some lingonberries were left on the stalks as well, much in the same condition. i didn't get to pick any in the fall, because i left for ireland just as everything was ripening, and it still bothers me, especially now that i've ran out of my frozen blueberries.
this orange slime mold was crawling all over the forest floor. which reminds me that there is a book about them i want... if i had it, i could tell you the beautiful finnish name of it. they have all been named officially just recently and the names read like poetry.
lovely lichens grew on the aspens on a clearing deeper in the woods. i sat on a warm, flat rock for a long time, it was so quiet there that i got a strange feeling about it and decided not to go further. i kind of had a hunch that a bear might be nearby, possibly with cubs in the nest. i kept hearing a sound that could have been a creaking tree or a crying baby. whatever it was, i didn't feel like finding out the hard way and left.
animals are shedding their winter coats, i found moose hairs and a tuft of white rabbit fur. i wish i could find some antlers, but i'm starting to think the deer have a secret stash just like elephants hide the ivory tusks.
finally, the pine bog, one of my favourite places in the world. the marsh labrador tea covers the ground, it's an evergreen but the leaves turn against the stalks for the winter. in the summer when it flowers, all of the above is a sea of white, and the amazing scent is literally intoxicating, causing nausea and dizziness if overdone. it's also a powerful repellent for moths and mice. i'm usually very scent-sensitive, but for some reason my tolerance for the wild rosemary, as it is also called, is really good.
on a completely different note, how did shakespeare originally sound like? fascinating and knee-melting if you ask me...
