Instant Summer !

Boy oh boy - we did the usual Virginia thing: Go straight from winter through a couple of days of spring into summer. Mind you, last week the temps were in the fifties, which makes us pretty cheerful. My kind of temperature ! This week is a different story: Straight from the fifties into the nineties.  Guess what ? With the hot weather the humidity returns and it's back to getting up at the crack of dawn to take the furgang for a spin. I still hate walking in the neighborhood and so I end up loading them up into the car and off we go to Great Falls Park usually. It's only a 15-20 minute drive and we rather walk in the woods than in an asphalt jungle. It turned out to be a beautiful morning and we leisurely walked for almost two hours. Around nine o'clock the sun started feeling very intense already and we were glad that we got to walk under the protection of the forest shade.

It's amazing how lush and green it is this spring. We had more rain than usual and I can't wait for the hordes of mosquitoes as a result of it. This is a glance at the swamp area and I am convinced that these blood sucking little warriors are plotting big battle plans on how to get us eventually. Can't wait !

Mosquitoes and other blood sucking insects aside, there's nothing more peaceful than walking through a forest early in the morning. I just love the light coming in through the trees and the fact, that one meets only the occasional jogger. It's bliss !

The mountain laurels are at full bloom . . .

... and some funny looking long and low creatures have been seen grazing like miniature cows along the way.

While others wait patiently at the side of the path for the crazy photographer to pack away the cam. Today I took the small pocket cam with me again. It's just too much luggage to drag the big cam with all the lenses and three dogs in the other hand. The small cam comes in handy to quickly take some snap shots as we go along.

That's it for today, folks. We'll be back soon. I think tomorrow we will have to step aside for some serious flower pics and other yard stuff. You never know. :-)