this morning at the last minute i decided to walk with mollie on the path we normally run, to meet up with kevin who would be coming home from class. i figured i’d bring the phone and take a couple of pictures…
here’s the little stretch of road that we have to take before getting to the path. we usually stay way over in the ditch because people tend to speed through here.
when we got to the spencer house, i let mollie off the leash and she joyfully ran ahead.
the spencer house used to be for the president of UIS, but now…i don’t think they use it for anything, except storage. it’s a shame, because it’s a lovely place on a big piece of land. for a while they converted it into offices for the university i think, but now it’s empty. there’s a big dumpster over there to the left, and sometimes they come over and dump stuff from the university into it. in the spring the trees around the house are filled with beautiful flowers.
i can’t believe i didn’t take a picture of the back yard at the spencer house; there’s a barn, and in back is an opening in a fence and the field beyond.
i was focused on taking a picture of all the deer footprints.
here’s the path leading out to the big soccer field. in the summer there’s corn on either side of the path. there on the left are kevin’s footprints from when he walked to class earlier.
mollie always goes to this one place to sniff.
it looks kind of dark outside, but it was actually very bright and sunny – when i took many of these pictures, i couldn’t see what i was doing at all. i just pointed the phone and hoped it’d take a good photo.
this is a fire hydrant in the middle of the field. mollie stopped by to pose next to it, but she didn’t feel the need to use it.
kevin got out of class a little bit early, and he met us in the field. mollie, naturally, was ecstatic to see him.
and here’s me!
here’s a good picture of the back of the spencer house! that’s the barn right behind mollie, and the spencer house on the left. and there’s no fence, there are just trees on either side of the path. i’ve only been running or walking this way for a year and a half now – you’d think i’d remember if there was a fence or not.
kevin thought that deer had been sleeping here on the ground. they had certainly been running around a lot.
or, he said, maybe they were just digging in the snow to find grass.
as we passed next to the dumpster, there was a mayonnaise packet lying next to it. there’s never litter at the spencer house, and the only time i see any garbage in the field is after soccer games. so it was funny to see this lone mayonnaise package lying there.
kevin and mollie, posing for me.
we got home and there was a bunch of geese hanging out in the yard; you can see them down there on the left.
mollie went running down the hill and they flew away, setting down on the lake.
“what are those footprints?” i asked kevin. THE GEESE, of course. looking at them, you say, of course they’re goose footprints – but how often do you see goose footprints? i think these are the first ones i’ve ever seen.
mollie doesn’t care at all about the footprints, she just wants to chase something.
not sure what these tracks were either – kevin said they could be the tails of the geese, as they were taking off. sounds logical to me.
this is the place in the rocks where the raccoon was staying when the lake was ice.
“a couple of pictures” – i took more than 30 pictures today. i’m becoming a pictureaholic. but surely, surely, i can’t imagine taking a bunch of pictures tomorrow.
i’ve been trying to write this while watching the olympic opening ceremony. it said that it started at 6:30.
at 6:30 they started interviewing athletes and talk talk talking and it went on and on. i finally looked it up and the ceremony didn’t start till EIGHT. it’s now 9:49 and it lasts till ELEVEN. kevin has already gone to bed, but mom and dad are here and will probably last till eleven and beyond. i don’t think i’ll be able to bear it.
i finally finished the bathroom painting for the last time this afternoon. REALLY finished now. so tomorrow will seem like a treat, no matter what i do. my arm hurts a whole lot.
ok then,
friday grace.