Ode to an Old Birch

After a couple days of ugly, cold, rainy, and very windy so-called “spring” weather in Wisconsin, the rain finally stopped this morning. The sun came out, ushering in a beautiful, partly cloudy day, albeit still a bit on the cool side. That was enough to get me outdoors, in my desperation to escape any more confinement in the Cave.

I grabbed my camera and headed out to Waubedonia Park, a favorite spot to photograph spring wildflowers. This park is located along the Milwaukee River halfway between the two small towns of Waubeka and Fredonia, thus the name.

Given the delayed onset of decent spring weather after prolonged cold this year, there were almost no wildflowers to be found. The few that were emerging were very small and difficult to photograph. It looks like it will be another couple of weeks, minimum, before the normal crop of spring wildflowers will appear in the woods. My consolation prize was a couple of flower photos, but that was it.

Lacking what I was hoping for, I noticed an old rotting birch log in the woods behind a campsite. It was covered with fungi, and looked interesting. Decaying leaves made reference to last year’s life, while awaiting this year’s new birth. It was that old log or nothing, photographically speaking. So, what you see below is the yield from today’s outing. It still felt good just to get out!