December Morning in the Woods

We got lost in the forest preserve woods yesterday morning.  We walked about 90 minutes before we got back to our car.  But it was a mild morning and the woods were beautiful!

When the sun finally came out yesterday morning I made a long shadow.

It was impossible to capture in a photograph the view of all the ravines and hills we walked through.  Everything was covered with a layer of leaves and was very quiet.

I noticed this mossy area at the top of a stream bed.  The little red speck in the back of the picture is from 3 mountain bike riders we met on the trail.

We passed three guys on mountain bikes as we were trying to figure out which way would take us out of the forest.

Dan pointed to six deer in the distance.

We and the deer looked at each other.

I came across a pile of nut shells.  It was under a shagbark hickory tree, so I am guessing they are from hickory nuts.

I saw this little cavity in a tree that looked like a nice place for a squirrel to sit and have a nut meal.

This tree cavity looked like a warm place to get out of a storm.  It reminds me of the little bunny children’s book I love.  Notice the spray paint on this trunk?

A lot of the trees in this forest had been decorated with spray paint…

Last weekend we visited the Turtlehead forest preserve in Orland Park.  We decided we want to come again and view it in the other three seasons, too.

Back at home I put fresh water in the bird bath when the weather was above freezing.  Then I noticed a flurry of starling and house sparrow visitors.  The northern cardinals and dark-eyed juncos looked on from nearby, but did not want to get mixed up with the crazy sparrows and starlings.

This morning, Christmas Eve, we are getting 1 -3 inches of snow for a beautiful white Christmas.

In our cozy kitchen, where the roast is in the oven, I noticed a ladybug in the greenhouse window.  It is hiding somewhere in the cyclamen plant….