{into nature}

{into nature} is a weekly Monday post inspiring the exploration of nature. It is a grassroots effort to combat the nature deficit disorder in our current generations. Please join me in this movement back into nature by sharing your own nature inspiration, whether shared through photographs, words, poetry…. leave a link here in the day's comments for all to enjoy.

“For children, nature comes in many forms. A newborn calf; a pet that lives and dies; a worn path through the woods; a fort nested in stinging nettles; a damp, mysterious edge of a vacant lot- whatever shape nature takes, it offers each child an older, larger world… nature does not steal time; it amplifies it.” -Richard Louv

*****

now that the spring tick invasion has died down a bit we have been able to get back on the trails again.  last week we found ourselves traveling a new trail at the white memorial conservation center in litchfield connecticut.  pat and i had our wedding there several years ago... it is such a beautiful place.  it is a bit of a drive for us so we usually only head up there several times a year.

our trail started out as a broad well defined path through the woods, but we eventually found ourselves meandering along side the river.  stream vegetation up to our shoulders and a path so narrow we had to bush whack a bit in some spots.  but it was worth worrying about ticks (which happily this is the fourth outing in a row with no ticks found on any of us, including duke!).  as we wandered along we kept hearing a huge splash in the stream.  after watching for a bit we realized we were hanging out with the beavers.  i snapped a few pictures of them, with accidental perfect timing on one shot as the beaver smacked down his tail and dove beneath the water.

we find ourselves so often in the woods-  it was a really nice change to find ourselves exploring a completely different kind of nature spot this time around!

beavers!

oh the beautiful weather we have been having!

the splash of a beaver

our own brown water lover, slightly resembling an oversized beaver :)

hmmm which trail should we take back to the car?