Into the woods

It was a misty morning, the valley and downs invisible beyond the hazy trees in the orchard, but by the time I had finished with J's breakfast, teeth, hair and online wellbeing session, the sun was breaking through and I headed up the hill and into the woods. It was my first walk there for some time, as it has been very muddy, but after a dry week the path was manageable, with just a few patches where I needed to clamber round the edges finding footholds between the roots of the trees. I've been so glad I bought my boots.

The sunlight through the trees was lovely, creating stripes on the path and selectively illuminating the bark and vegetation. It was a day to delight in the fluffiness of hazel catkins, the shiny, veined delicacy of tiny new ivy leaves clinging to rough trunks, and the mirror smoothness of the pool reflecting and contrasting with the textured bark of the fallen birch and the surrounding undergrowth. The tangled and uneven growth in the extra, with its twisted twig sprouting shiny new leaves, also caught my eye for Mono Monday's rough, smooth and uneven theme.