The great outdoors

I found a great place to walk today. I'm making a wreath for the family. For the first time in my life, I bought the base. It's a really nice balsam wreath on it's own and I could have just decorated it but the tradition is that it should have assorted greens. Easy to find up north, not so easy here. It's different in the mountains but there aren't pine forests here.

It took a while to find a place that still had enough accessible woods but I discovered the neighboorhood where the family almost bought a house has a huge tract of undeveloped land that already has paved roads but no houses. I found an interesting assortment of pines and several different kinds of holly.

It was a little trickier this year. I usually use natural berries but with the tyke, I didn't want to use anything that might drop something that looks tasty but is really poisonous so I'm going with fake berries for the first time as well. In any event the roads are regular rabbit warren of dead ends but I managed to find a way to make a big circle that ended in a clear cut path through the woods that takes you back to the main road. It took me a hour and half with all the stopping. I have this thing about not cutting more than three ends off any one tree so it takes a long time. I think it will make a good forty minute walk on a normal day.

Anyway, I'm feeling more connected to the land here after tramping through the woods for the first time since I've moved here and I'm off to finish this wreath. I'm going to bring the stuff into this room so I can listen to Pandora. Adding the last two artists really helped the mix. I just heard Eric Burden, the Everly Brothers, Bread and now this Dukes of Stratosphear is on. They're new to me but I really do like this cut. The next two are okay, not great. I decided to add William Topley to the playlist. Can't wait to see what happens.

I feel like my whole life has just changed.

Update: So I got involved in the wreath and forgot to post this until I finished with it. I'm happy enough with it. The fake berries look fine. I'll take a picture once we get it up on the door. Meanwhile, adding Topley did the trick. There's been a steady stream of great music. It's playing live Cream right now. Moving on to someone new I like. The Black Keys. Jeez, I love Pandora.