Crabapple Harvest

My daughter and I went to collect some crabapples the other day. Along the way we saw some interesting things. Like this butterfly:


The photo above is mine, the one below is my daughter's. She always takes the time to get the really good shots:



Is it any wonder that I've had several cases of poison ivy this past summer with the plants around here sporting leaves like this?:

There was a funny fungus growing on an old stump. It reminded me of those candy dots that you get on a strip of paper:

My daughter got a close-up shot:

I've never seen such a pretty fungus as this before, it reminds me of a chrysanthemum:

We came across an outdoor cafeteria. The hulls of hickory nuts were left on top of logs:

And stones where they had been eaten by some hungry critter:

They don't call them shagbark hickory for nothing:

Someone left behind muddy handprints. I don't know if it was a raccoon or a skunk:

Strider was eager to keep moving:

Reminding me of this poem:

The road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

Tolkien