Mayflowers and Pilgrims

 Purplish-Blue Mayflowers, April 1, 2012

We still have a few dirt roads in the area, and they're a pleasant place to take a walk on a Sunday afternoon. We were surprised to see Mayflowers, already! Usually we see them the first part of May. When I was a kid, to celebrate May 1 (May Day), we would stuff little homemade construction paper baskets with candy and Mayflowers, then take them to the neighbors', leave them on their doorstep, and run away. I'm not sure why we ran off afterwards, but it must have been a tradition from somewhere. Actually, now that I'm dredging the depths of my little gray cells, I'm thinking that if we left them on the doorstep of a little boy, we were supposed to then ring the doorbell and he was supposed to go to the door, see us running off, and chase us down to give us a kiss. Am I making that up?

Some years we have such a cold spring that we don't see Mayflowers until the middle of May, so this was a very nice surprise. Aren't they beautiful! If we keep having warm temps this week, the whole floor of the woods should be covered with them. Right now there are clusters here and there.

 More Mayflowers

 No alteration was done to this photo.

The sky was really a beautiful blue!

One of the few remaining dirt roads in Wisconsin.

And no, I wouldn't want to live on a dirt road, for I have enough
dust and dirt in my house with two dogs and two cats.

But dirt roads are sure nice for a walk.

I have decided that the next best thing to public footpaths, as they have in Britain, are dirt roads. I don't think we're allowed to walk along old railroad right-of-ways or snowmobile trails or ATV trails. But there is almost no traffic on a dirt road, so they make the perfect place for walking. Over the summer, I'm going to see how many dirt roads I can find in our area. It's nice having a change of scenery. Well, it's still woods, ponds, creeks, and hills, but they're in various arrangements, and I never tire of them. We also see occasional eagles, hawks, cranes, beavers, etc.  I'm eager to see what I can find this spring and summer!

What's your favorite place to walk?

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