A walk in the woods

We took the day off from tasks here at home to go for a ramble in the woods nearby.  Even though we live just off the downtown of a busy city, there are lots of hidden gems of wildness still to be found, all within walking distance of where our home is - a little creek trickling over stones at the farthest back edge of a park; forested walking trails with trilliums, oaks, tamaracks and maples; the trail running alongside the Grand River, where we pick wild mint and often see kayaks, canoes, geese, hawks and ducks; the wild flowers we love to see  growing along old railway tracks; a hidden storm water pond where a blue heron nests; a sunny south-facing hilltop with a view; the place we know to go for harvesting nettle in the spring, the trail where we have seen puffball mushrooms and fiddleheads; the place with the large wild raspberry patch; the corner of a park where remnants of an old apple orchard are...we try to take time to visit these special places often, to know and appreciate the wildness we still have close by in the city.