Pine Creek Good Friday

 On the day we used to call Good Friday I went with Phil and Susan out to Pine Creek. While they went for a long hike up the canyon I just wandered around in a few acre loop and visited my friend Howard and also went down to Meridian Rd and visited Dorothy who takes an active interest in Howard as he grows a little more fragile.

 One of the things about a wild place is the unexpected.. like this skull. While I walked two vultures kept circling me, reminding me that it wouldn't take long to look that this.

 The flowers were really decreased compared to most springtimes. There were a lot of popcorn flowers but not the usual variety and numbers of flowers. I found this single plant by Pine Creek but am unsure what it is... Dogwood was blooming everywhere giving off its lovely contrast to the dark trunks and shadowed places and deep greens.

 Another surprise by the creek was this raccoon tail...the only uneaten part of the creature. Pine Creek has changed a lot since I lived there--30 years ago. No one is killing the predators now so there are coyote, bear, mountain lions as well as large numbers of deer. As unpleasant as death is it is part of the balance of things-- spring that will slide to summer, old age that will yield to death, the change of hands, the unknown... May the wild things who have claimed Pine Creek live on and even if Howard, Dorothy, our friends and I lose our access to this land may it remain fixed in some way-- a safe legacy of how things realistically are along this watercourse,vast open spaces and foothills.