I spent my weekend with S. and her family in Damascus, Maryland, which meant no bicycling for me (though when the folding bicycle gets here, that won’t happen again). On the plus side, I got to go on a couple of lovely walks, one along a paved path where I saw a gajillion deer, and today’s at Little Bennett Regional Park. The sign said bikes were invited, and I thought about how maybe I should have a mountain bike, but then I reminded myself that sometimes it’s good to take a walk, and you can see entirely different things on a walk that you can see from a bike, so perhaps it’s best that sometimes my feet are on the ground. We walked up and down the hill, passed the garden gnome somebody left on a tree stump, took a right at the dribble of water, and walked out to a meadow. We retraced our steps, D. told us about the plants, S. made me a walking stick, and we marched along. I stopped to snap this picture of the spindly trees against the blue sky and clouds–so, so pretty. It is so beautiful out here, and I am feeling pretty lucky. And like I need a bike ride tomorrow.