Saturday, October 7, 2017

Saturday, October 7, 2017

Tonight's picture was taken in April of 2005. Every April, we took Mattie to the DC Arboretum. Why? Because the Arboretum has an extensive collection of azaleas. I mean hundreds of them and they are huge. They happen to bloom around Mattie's birthday. The pathways and trails to see the azaleas are lovely, and Mattie always enjoyed the trip! He particularly loved hearing me say that the azaleas bloomed because they knew it was his birthday!


Quote of the day: I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order. ~ John Burroughs

I have been dealing with an incredible migraine, non-stop for several days now. It is very debilitating. For the most part I haven't known a headache free day for almost 16 years now. But there are different degrees of pain and headaches, and this week it is bordering on intolerable. 

Sunny looks forward to our weekend walks, and I am happy Peter suggested we go to the DC Arboretum. That way we avoid crowds, congestion, and fighting for sidewalk space. It is better for my head not to be competing for green space. This was Sunny's first visit to the Arboretum. Like Mattie, Sunny loved it. He had a spring in his step, which was wonderful to see, since he was not himself after surgery this week. 

Sunny was literally pulling us up the hills at the Arboretum. He was so excited to check out these new green spaces, sniff, and smell. Not to mention hunt for squirrels. 

Along our journey, we spotted a tree dropping these very large fruit. Neither one of us knew what kind of tree this was. But clearly someone had cut open one of the fruits on the ground and the inside looked like a apple. 

This small tree is the home to the large fruit above.

Along our walk today, we came across the same bench above that I sat with Mattie. Sunny was my bench companion today. 

Can you see the columns in the background? They are known as the National Capitol Columns. It is an arrangement of twenty-two Corinthian columns, originally from the United States Capitol, placed amid 20 acres of open meadow, known as the Ellipse Meadow.

This is pathway around the Ellipse Meadow. When we took Mattie to the Arboretum years ago, such a wonderful pathway did not exist. You had to walk through the fields to get to the columns. 

The beauty of an 80 degree day, with such a blue sky and the columns as a backdrop. 

Amazing wildflowers surrounded the columns!

A close up of the columns. I remember Mattie loving the water feature near these columns. The water literally trickles from the columns into the basin, and Mattie loved following the water as it traversed to the basin. 

For me, no trip to a garden is complete without spotting a monarch butterfly. To me it signals Mattie was with us on today's journey.