The Woods

This is one of the places Lew really loses himself. Actually loses himself; his head and shoulders physically disappear into a hole under this trunk and he lingers there, snuffling happily away, for long periods of time. I have taken to singing show tunes, stretching, practicing my botanical Latin plant ID until eventually I sit down in the duff and wish I had brought my Kindle. I never remember to and that's a good thing really. There are many places to read (not enough time, mind you) but not so many opportunities to sit quietly in the woods, to deeply absorb peace, to notice water drops on moss, spider webs catching filtered light and floating away and beyond. There are many nurse logs festooned with those licorice root ferns and deciduous Huckleberry bushes and I wonder which one I would live in if I were small and furry, considering the prevailing wind, runoff from rain, proximity to a path frequented by a large black dog...I spied some ground orchids I think, some sort of lady slipper looking blossom of which I was unaware before Lew fell madly in love with a hole neath a tree. I took a photo but it was very blurry but it was purple pinkish with pointed petals radiating out above and to the sides with a lady's slipper lower-lip-concealing-snuff below.

Just beyond the trees lies Dad's small portion of the inlet leading from Hood Canal, which is "a fjord forming the western lobe, and one of the four main basins of Puget Sound. It's not a canal in the sense of being a man-made waterway—it is a natural waterway" that links by ferry some of the islands in Puget Sound. You are never far from the water here though any lapping rhythm was drowned out by Lew's interpretation of a truffle pig. I don't know what he has discovered but it certainly keeps his attention and leaves him happy and dancing all the way back home where my tea and his nap await.