Sunday Stroll - Once More With Feeling

Maude and I headed out into the brisk afternoon for one last stroll of the year. The cold wind tugged at our hair, and a bittersweet ache tugged at my heart because I know that Maude doesn't have many more strolls to take through these gardens with me.

Here, at the trail head of the butterfly garden, is a quiet place to sit and think... But Maude and I kept moving down the snow-covered trail, between the bent and broken stalks and the flower heads clinging to a few last seeds.

We walked past the quiet pond, where cattails with their brown velvet crowns rise above a thin layer of snow-dusted ice. My heart lifted with the tiny bit of "frisk" in Maude's gait.

We trudged through the deep rectangular impression left by 13 years of tending a vegetable garden in the same place. The herb gardens are caught in drifts, with stalks rising above the snow here and there. Most of the plants look like this white and withered Bell of Ireland...
but we found one tiny yellow lettuce blossom blooming amid surprisingly fresh, green leaves.

Maude crossed the road and wandered through the barren hay field, nibbling snow and sniffing the December wind.

The wind pushed us toward home. The front garden, a mass of untrimmed stalks, frames the hills, fields, and the lake where Maude has run and played for most of her years.

Looking back over my shoulder at those familiar hills, I walk back to the house with Maude at my heels and together we move into the warmth and comfort of our home.

Where ever you are, whatever the weather, I wish you good company.

To share the strolls of other bloggers, please scroll down to my previous post where links are provided.

all photos by Aisling, December 27, 2009