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Thursday, July 1, 2010

Real plants and memorable people on the Military Ridge Trail

It is summertime on the Military Ridge trail again. This brings together my two favorite activities; non-running and non-gardening!  I can walk the trail fast enough for exercise, but slow enough to enjoy the view. I can enjoy the plants without all that pesky digging and weeding!

Today, as I walked, I realized how many people were marching through my memory as I saw different plants. The sumac reminded me of my lifelong friend, Marta. She used to dye fabrics with natural things like the sumac and onions. These particular grasses remind me of Chris. He is my buddy who had the finest of parties every June for many years. We artists would congregate and do Plein Air for the day. These grasses appeared in all the paintings I did (and the seeds were embedded in the paint as well!) I love the very subtle color shifts this grass takes as it moves in and out of the sun.

Then there are the family representatives. "Acky berries" will always bring a smile to my face, as I now know that warning a two year old against partaking of dangerous berries can be generalized by that same two year old to all berries. But the edible berries remind me of Annie (niece) who loves them, Nernie (grandfather) who grew them, and Jon (hubby) who has an annual battle with the birds over them! The milkweeds are for my sister who loves their wonderful aroma and lets them wander through her garden.

Boy, I love my non-gardening and non-running and my friends and family!

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