I visited my mother this past week and took the time to walk along the Big Pipe Creek, which runs through her front yard. The stroll, with my camera of course, brought back many memories. We have always referred to the yard as the ``bottom.'' We had many family celebrations in the bottom from my sister's going away when she joined the Navy, to another sister's wedding, a niece's wedding, a nephew being shipped out in the Navy, to many, many birthday parties. I caught my first fish in the creek, as did my younger brothers. We played baseball, softball, football and track and field. Yes, track and field. The neighbors would come over to play and swim. In the winter when it got cold enough, we would ice skate. There were many walnuts on the ground, which made me think of the times we would open the walnuts for the meat. Some of the nuts were sold, but my grandmother would make a great black walnut cake.
Most of the images are weeds, but like different in the fall as the colors change. Even poison ivy looks good for the camera as it changes to red. The color seemed to hit overnight this past week in Central Maryland. Who knew nettles and poke weed could look so good. I even saw some fugus on a downed tree that was Oriole orange.
