Friday Afternoon Club

Watercress growing in a cool, still pond.

Are you tired? Broke? Bored? Depressed? Yeah, me, too. Holiday pressures and politics can really get me down. Seems there's always somebody stirring up trouble though I had to laugh when I saw today's Wiki: How to Find Christmas Gifts for People Who Bug You.

Sometimes it's hard to get into the holiday spirit. Particularly hard for me this year, since we have no snow.

I'm thinking about that today because I got a note from a fellow blogger wishing she could just call off Christmas altogether. Can't be done. I know that for certain sure because I've tried (and failed!) many times.

Though I do know a great way to get out of your holiday funk:
Tear up the Christmas lists greedy family members have handed you. And, then? Take a walk.

Because, sometimes, the comfort of your own quiet thoughts is enough to convert a raving lunatic back into the mild, mannered woman you used to be. (Talkin' about myself here, not you.)

This week's installment of the Friday Afternoon [Hiking] Club took us along the dirt paths rising above Memory Grove. A bit ironic since Memory Grove is a park honoring the dead.

If I were a bird, I would make this my home.

Seems pretty ideal. A dense, protective forest, plentiful berries, even some ripe, wild apples hanging heavy from a tree.

It was up along this trail that KC found the Racing Pigeon, who must have died just minutes before we arrived on the scene.

My bleeding heart friend conducted an impromptu burial for the pretty bird and I did not take this picture of her foot because I'm weird. I took it so I could track the tag and tell the owner we found her. Turns out she flew the coop in 1999...

Perhaps she decided to skip out of town to avoid Christmas headaches, too.