I enjoy following Les over at A Tidewater Gardener. His garden and adventures are much appreciated links to my home state, Virginia. For the last few years, he’s challenged readers to a winter walk-off and it’s been fun to participate…. although winter is tougher in New Hampshire for a walk-off. I fully understand why the Eskimos have 50 different words for snow.
I’ve been a little hesitant to walk in the snow after a series of falls that my sisters have suffered. Misfortune began on cobblestones in Paris when a sister slipped to her knees right in front of me. Result: a hairline fracture just below the knee. A second sister fell in England, breaking her arm. She was just recovering from surgery when my sister-in-law fell in her home, breaking her arm. The last victim was my youngest sister who fell while hiking in Maui a week ago, breaking both arms! Yes, she is sporting two casts. Now they say it’s my turn for a tumble. It ain’t gonna happen, girls! When temperatures hit a mild 49° yesterday, it was a good day for a very basic winter walk-off.
We first passed a marsh of Phragmites australis that is rampant in New Hampshire’s seacoast area as it is in low-lying areas almost everywhere. It’s an invasive monoculture replacing cattails, but not entirely all bad according to Dr. Carl Hershner of Virginia Institute of Marine Science. I heard him state in a lecture that it can prevent shoreline erosion and create stability with a mass of roots that can go 6′ deep. It is attractive and full of birds on this day, but I’d rather see a marsh of cattails.
Traveling on, we decided to drop in on our friend, John, a master carpenter who was hard at work in his workshop.
John and his father built his two workshops beginning in 1955, working on them when time and funds were available, finishing it all in 1957. We could sit forever with John in his toasty workshop soaking in information and history of the area and just watching the master at his work. The atmosphere in the workshop takes you back in time, a better time, and I hope he never changes one thing inside.
We continued along our slushy pathway passing only two people and 3 dogs along the way. As we trod along, we noticed a few interesting winter flora and we stayed on the lookout for signs of spring. The following is a sampling of what we saw:
Red Maple (Acer rubrum)
Did you know that the U.S. Forest service recognizes this tree as the most common variety of tree in America? This lovely tree with red twigs, buds, flowers and fall foliage is one of the first plants to flower in the spring.
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Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina)
Buds are quite small on hairy twigs that will soon grow into a small tree or upright shrub and expand into a colony along this trail. In the fall we are awed by the rich reds and scarlets of the leaves of this woody perennial.
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Red-twig Dogwood (Cornus sericea)
Red Osier Dogwood spreads by suckering, forming dense thickets and gives us amazing bright red stems in winter.
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Milkweed Pods
Seeds are spent from the pods of the common milkweed (Asclepius syriaca). Some folks collect these pods for craft projects.
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New England Aster
These New England asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) have already offered their seeds up to birds. We hope to see new growth soon.
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Queen Anne’s Lace
Dried seed heads of Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota) decorated the edge of the paths.
After about a 3-mile walk-off, we returned home… soaking wet socks but invigorated by the outing. And, guess what… no one fell down!
Looks like a very lovely walk. Glad you didn’t fall down! haha.
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No falls but I was treading very carefully!
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Very much enjoy your beautiful photo essays!
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Thanks for dropping by. Call me crazy but I have not grown tired of the snow in New Hampshire! It is beautiful.
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What a run of sisterly bad luck, glad you got home from your walk incident-free!
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Our only incident was on thin ice over a big puddles. Wet socks were the end result.
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Thanks for risking extremity injury while participating in my Walk-Off. I don’t think anyone has ever done that, but if I were you, I would not worry about the snow as much as travelling with any of your female relatives.
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My sisters will enjoy reading that! I do have 3 brothers that might consent to a little traveling with me.
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I’m so sorry your family has had such bad luck. I hope they are healing. What a nice place to walk the dogs. Your winter reminds me of ours.
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Thank you, Sarah. From the looks of your winter walk-off, I think you must get more snow in Brunswick than we have on New Hampshire’s seacoast. Lovely post!
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The workshop looks cool. I would have stopped my walk there and not continued. So the falls occur everywhere around the world except home?
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Hi Ray, the workshop is way cool and a regular destination for my husband. Yes, the falls and spills occur everywhere but home… so I’m safe, right?
Your winter walk-off through one of my all time favorite places, Old Town Alexandria, was wonderful. I explored the area on foot last summer with my sibs. No falls there! Just good eating and shopping.
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