Puddle Reflections

I headed out intent on forest bathing and hoping to curtail a brewing migraine. I fell in love with puddle reflections.  I started by enjoying all the shadows, sparkles, and swirls in this particular puddle... then contemplating the reflections.

Then it was like every single puddle was this exciting mirror to explore!

Here we have a zooming out series of four:

Sometimes I could see them from the side:

But more often, I needed to get close to peer inside:

Then I took a few pictures comparing the reflection to the real thing and what a delightful show!

Happy reflections delight :)

To Highway 17 and Back Again

It's been quite the run of storms recently which have caused mudslides and road closures. After Andrew got to work this morning, a slide closed Highway 17 completely south of us.

I knew that all the backroads to access Laurel were blocked by slides or flooding. So, while this is still my favorite walk, I turned left out of our driveway to walk to the highway and back again. I hoped to see if there was a way to enter Laurel Rd from 17, if someone was able to come from the north. (As the screenshot gives away, there was and it worked... albeit not quickly.)

However, I have been developing themes for my forest road strolls and this time I picked fluorescent green. You see, it doesn't seem to matter if we're talking about edge-of-the-road asphalt 

or trunks

or stumps

or red-wood needles

or even whole trees...

my forest has some seriously happy moss! Noticing it made my uphill trek to the road much more pleasant. 

On a side note, but in the glowing theme, have you noticed how raindrops glow silver on leaves on a gray day? They get this glorious, metallic luster that's quite different from the gem-like sparkle of sunny-day dew drops.

Well, this is what I found.

The road was empty but not blocked and my husband made it home. Hoorah for a successful trip "To Highway 17 and Back Again"!