what ? straight out of the camera ?

it doesn't happen very often

but

when the weather is saying

"come play with me and leave that computer and your photo editing alone"

well

i listen

and

upload my photos

as they are

~gasp~

hiking in our woods at the cottage this spring has been a challenge

~

the hills are terribly

~actually dangerously~

steep

and

with the ground feeling like marshmallows beneath our feet

the only way to scale them is at an angle

~

but

you know me

i like a challenge

and

when the other challenge

is to find the tiny little violets that hide on our hillside

well

i pound my chest like tarzan and yell

"bring it on"

down below the hills

in what we call

the valley

is where we have a natural spring

and

surrounding that area every year is

skunk cabbage

~

obviously

some people hate it as it's invasive and i guess it stinks if you step on it

and

i guess all the wild animals stay away from it

but

for me it's beautiful and green and full of life

~

we have never smelled anything from it

even when tromping through it and since our land is still filled with deer

and

other critters that leave their little prints behind

the

skunk cabbage is just fine with us

when i looked at this photo

i realized you could see the roof to our cottage in the distance

and

that where i was standing was

"bare"

or

"still kind of winter dead"

in valley terms

~

in another month

though

everything will be as tall as me or taller

and

then the hills and valley

will have a new name

~

that's when we start referring to it as

heaven

*