Solitary Sandpiper

All is very peaceful in my yard. The sun is trying to come out. I came upon a pure white Beautiful Jacob's ladder. As I hang up laundry, the Flicker fledglings are being fed and are now sticking their heads out of the nest hole. All is bliss. But for some reason I am still swatting every hair that brushes my skin.

I just came back from a most exhilarating walk, as in horrendous really. The terrain was so 'wild', the mosquitoes so thick, and the birds screaming at me. It was drizzling and I was sweating. At one point I sunk up to my knees in a wet hole, dunked the camera, and had to start laughing.

Anyway after being inside most of the day, I donned my rain gear and set of on my bike. The roads where so soft, it felt I was riding with a flat tire. Let see what 'teapot pond' is like these days. Arriving there, right away I am greeted by different flowers and will make a list again. Next greeting is from the lesser yellowlegs. I thought they where screamers. But nothing compared to, the Solitary Sandpiper! I am infringing their territory.
I leave my bike on the road and decide to walk around the west part of the pond. I have never done this. And might not ever again, although.... The ground is very unstable here. The clay shore is falling into the pond, in big sections. I should have been warned by that, the whole shoreline is very erratic. lots of water 'inland'. And lots of fallen big Spruce trees. Hundred meters along, I meet the screamers and am enticed. They lead me to a mossy swamp, full of Northern Green Orchids and a field of pure white Cotton Grass. Too late to go back now. I'm sold. I startle the ducklings in the pond. Cross an area full of 'Marsh Five Finger' . Now I have to come back to see it blooming, it will be dark red. Then I have to cross a section of red moss. I try one foot. It is still frozen underneed and rock hard. Fooled! Here is where I get my soakers and burst out laughing at my own foolishness.
Thing are getting better from here on. The outline of this, what is really a group of ponds is awesome, I walk on a little dike between two.Cross some little ditches that connect the different ponds. Many different birds inhabit this place. Make some last pictures of orchids and birds. I stop at a big field of Coltsfoot, pick some leaves for my medicine cabinet. Jump on my bike and race off to outrun the bugs. What a wild walk, fittingly so, as keeper of wild places.