Finding Color

The Great Miami River

Finding color that isn't gray or brown in the landscape in December in southwest Ohio is difficult.  That was certainly true yesterday as the resident canine and I headed out for a long walk on a foggy and drizzly morning.  There was some vestige of green grass left in the parks but the woods are mostly dull and gray with the floor of the woods mostly brown.  But if one tries one can always find color.

moss and lichens

The color yesterday was chartreuse and was found on moss and lichens covering the concrete on an abutment for a long gone suspension, bridge over the river.  There was even some young green growth in a few areas that are more protected from the weather.  The summer heat and sunshine prevents the lichens from growing on this west facing wall, but both of those things are rare now and they are flourishing.

more lichens and moss

The square holes are another part of the old support structure for the bridge and there are thirty or so of them, each about twelve inches.  Their new role in the world is to serve as nesting sites for bank swallows that show up every spring.  They are about eight feet above ground and being on a sheer face there is great protection for the birds. 

We came home damp and the canine made certain that the Canada geese were in the river and not on shore and that two squirrels stayed in the trees.