Yesterday I went for a walk up into the woods behind my house. It's very steep, and my hiking muscles are not quite up to snuff. I am being reminded of this weakness of mine today with every step I take.  :-) I want to work out the winter kinks now, because Mr. P, S and I want to hike to a lake that none of us have ever been to. We plan to do that this Spring or early Summer. It's my goal to charge up the hill at least once a week in preparation so I'll be able to keep up with their prodigious hiking abilities and not slow them down too much. As I was walking along an old logging road I glanced down to my left and saw a patch of wild sunflowers growing in a rather unlikely spot. So I went down to investigate... Their leaves remind me of horseradish. Teeny tiny sunflower seeds.... Right in the sunflower patch, a young fir tree was growing. At this stage of its life, it has just doubled its size in one season... I love the color of new grown on fir trees. It's luminous. With the abundance of rain and snow this year, all the plants are thriving. Including the poison oak. I ran across some VERY happy new growth farther up the hill. I didn't stop to take photos, I gave it a wide berth. I'm quite allergic to the stuff, and find it rather difficult to admire it. So it's not going on these pages any time soon. But I AM hoping to get a glimpse of the tiger lilies up at the creek this year. I think they are the most rarified and spectacular flower that grows here close to home. We will see what THEY thought of the abundant water this winter....