mistressofmuses (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mistressofmuses) wrote2022-08-12 10:08 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2022-08-12 10:08 pm
Tuesday, Aug 9: Greenbelt and "The Secret Garden"
Tuesday we wanted to do *something* - again, there's distressingly little guaranteed summer left. But Alex was hurting, and Cy continues to be a weenie about anything that takes more than 20 minutes or happens at greater than 80 degrees. So we figured we'd head to the greenbelt that we often visit, since that provides nice cool creek water for Cy to wade in, and is a series of very easy trails that wouldn't overtax Alex.
Well... that was what we'd hoped. Except we got there, and the usual trails we walk were completely blocked off with orange construction fencing. There was a backhoe in the distance. There was no info on WHY the trails were closed, so I hope it's like... cleaning up from flooding or something, as the rain from the last few weeks caused a lot of flash floods.
So we decided to head the other direction, upstream instead of down. Still plenty of creek, and we haven't been up that way in a few years (because we like the other way better, but that's okay.)
Except then there were warning signs about DO NOT GO INTO THE WATER, DO NOT WADE, DO NOT LET PETS IN THE WATER. Apparently they've found blue-green algae in the creek, which is pretty toxic! Yay!
UGH.
So no wading to cool the dog down, but we went on a walk anyway, dammit.
Probably my best picture of the day was this skipper on this flower. :)
A squirrel, poking his head up from a nest.
A mushroom!
Not yet ripe, but blue plums! These make me nostalgic - we had SO MANY blue (prune) plum trees (plus one red plum tree) in the backyard when I was a kid. I loved them so much.
Then we came across...
A garden! Smallish, but pretty. A lot of fairly well-established flowering bushes and things.
This is just a zoomed-in version of the above, because toward the middle you can see an American goldfinch! There was a pair - the female was closer but flew away quicker, while the male sat there for a moment. I couldn't get a GOOD picture, but I was happy to see them!
There's a horse path that goes alongside the walking/biking path, so we cut across that to get a little closer to the creek, opposite the garden type area.
And there's a probable-beaver lodge! (We did not see beavers to confirm, but that's what it looks like.)
A lot of these flowers were done, leaving behind interesting spiky seedheads. But here was one still blooming: a flower with a bee and three skipper butterflies. (The bee was not actually glowing from within like an item for a fetch-quest, thanks phone camera.)
Then we went back to the path to keep walking. But past the little flower garden (which backs up to some condos or apartments on the other side), it looked like it USED to be more garden. All completely overtaken with weeds, but with some evidence of terraced garden beds, and some broken up pathways.
Then there was another small cleared area, where... yep, definitely some overgrown garden!
There was a very overgrown and decayed bench and table. The metal was all wrought iron, so it's in good shape.
There was also a mailbox.
There were also a couple signs of slightly more recent activity - a plastic bucket that someone may have been using to weed, and a couple plant cages that didn't have anything living in them, but were probably an attempt at tomatoes. There were some beans growing up an overgrown trellis in the midst of the weeds. I wonder if someone from the apartment/condos on the opposite side was trying to tend it for a while, but gave up.
A closer shot of the table. Alex really liked the table.
A nice, vibrant flower.
From up closer to the condos, another picture of the not-very-maintained garden area.
It definitely had some very "Secret Garden" vibes - weird to have so much... infrastructure, like the terraced beds, the bench, some completely overgrown paving stones, etc. between condos on one side and a city-owned pathway on the other. It clearly doesn't belong to the condos, and it's certainly not city-owned. The mailbox, plus the age of the things like the garden beds and things (which are years of neglect, not just a few months like the tomato cages) makes me think it's the remnant of a garden for a house that was there before the condos.
I do remember when those condos went in, maybe... 15-20 years ago? It had previously been a lot of open space. But I'm betting there was a house down there, too.
Heading back, we noted how many things like grapevines and more plum trees than I'd previously noticed there were. I wonder if some of those might have been on the property when there was a house there, too. (There's a lot of other stuff growing along there now, but the plums looked to have been planted in rows, maybe.)
Interesting, at the very least!
And a picture of Cy, utterly worn out from his relatively short walk over paved pathways in the shade. (It was pretty hot, and he started getting a bit gimpy on the walk back, though he's fully recovered by now.)
Well... that was what we'd hoped. Except we got there, and the usual trails we walk were completely blocked off with orange construction fencing. There was a backhoe in the distance. There was no info on WHY the trails were closed, so I hope it's like... cleaning up from flooding or something, as the rain from the last few weeks caused a lot of flash floods.
So we decided to head the other direction, upstream instead of down. Still plenty of creek, and we haven't been up that way in a few years (because we like the other way better, but that's okay.)
Except then there were warning signs about DO NOT GO INTO THE WATER, DO NOT WADE, DO NOT LET PETS IN THE WATER. Apparently they've found blue-green algae in the creek, which is pretty toxic! Yay!
UGH.
So no wading to cool the dog down, but we went on a walk anyway, dammit.
Probably my best picture of the day was this skipper on this flower. :)
A squirrel, poking his head up from a nest.
A mushroom!
Not yet ripe, but blue plums! These make me nostalgic - we had SO MANY blue (prune) plum trees (plus one red plum tree) in the backyard when I was a kid. I loved them so much.
Then we came across...
A garden! Smallish, but pretty. A lot of fairly well-established flowering bushes and things.
This is just a zoomed-in version of the above, because toward the middle you can see an American goldfinch! There was a pair - the female was closer but flew away quicker, while the male sat there for a moment. I couldn't get a GOOD picture, but I was happy to see them!
There's a horse path that goes alongside the walking/biking path, so we cut across that to get a little closer to the creek, opposite the garden type area.
And there's a probable-beaver lodge! (We did not see beavers to confirm, but that's what it looks like.)
A lot of these flowers were done, leaving behind interesting spiky seedheads. But here was one still blooming: a flower with a bee and three skipper butterflies. (The bee was not actually glowing from within like an item for a fetch-quest, thanks phone camera.)
Then we went back to the path to keep walking. But past the little flower garden (which backs up to some condos or apartments on the other side), it looked like it USED to be more garden. All completely overtaken with weeds, but with some evidence of terraced garden beds, and some broken up pathways.
Then there was another small cleared area, where... yep, definitely some overgrown garden!
There was a very overgrown and decayed bench and table. The metal was all wrought iron, so it's in good shape.
There was also a mailbox.
There were also a couple signs of slightly more recent activity - a plastic bucket that someone may have been using to weed, and a couple plant cages that didn't have anything living in them, but were probably an attempt at tomatoes. There were some beans growing up an overgrown trellis in the midst of the weeds. I wonder if someone from the apartment/condos on the opposite side was trying to tend it for a while, but gave up.
A closer shot of the table. Alex really liked the table.
A nice, vibrant flower.
From up closer to the condos, another picture of the not-very-maintained garden area.
It definitely had some very "Secret Garden" vibes - weird to have so much... infrastructure, like the terraced beds, the bench, some completely overgrown paving stones, etc. between condos on one side and a city-owned pathway on the other. It clearly doesn't belong to the condos, and it's certainly not city-owned. The mailbox, plus the age of the things like the garden beds and things (which are years of neglect, not just a few months like the tomato cages) makes me think it's the remnant of a garden for a house that was there before the condos.
I do remember when those condos went in, maybe... 15-20 years ago? It had previously been a lot of open space. But I'm betting there was a house down there, too.
Heading back, we noted how many things like grapevines and more plum trees than I'd previously noticed there were. I wonder if some of those might have been on the property when there was a house there, too. (There's a lot of other stuff growing along there now, but the plums looked to have been planted in rows, maybe.)
Interesting, at the very least!
And a picture of Cy, utterly worn out from his relatively short walk over paved pathways in the shade. (It was pretty hot, and he started getting a bit gimpy on the walk back, though he's fully recovered by now.)
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The overgrown areas are awesome. I like the bench a lot.
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The overgrown stuff was very cool! I loved the bench and table.
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I had to look it up, but the spiky flowers appear to be "wild teasel". They're not native to North America, so are considered an invasive species, though only a terribly problematic one in some areas where they overwhelm native plants.
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And yes, poor sleepy Cy!
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I'm glad you had a lovely walk despite the closures and warnings!
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It was a nice walk, though!