Another Short walk -about in the Ashley River Park:4 '23

 The weather was perfect for a short walk around the Ashley River Park fishing lake today.

From the Event Center Parking lot, we  walked to the fishing piers

and crossed the Parks small lake

so that we could continue the lake trail on the shaded east  East side of the park

We didn't venture into the forest today,

as there was plenty of interesting things to be seen from the docks

(Alligator in the fishing lake)

(Anhinga on fishing pier)

 and from the trail

Turtles on a log

I am so glad that Dorchesst County and the State of South Carolina

has  the foresite to protect this lovely place from development.

Tulip Poplar Bouquet: 4 '23

 Surprise, surprise! Tulip Poplar blossoms make nice little bouquets.

I picked these blossoms up off of the ground yesterday  after the wind blew them off of our tree    and stuck them in a cup of water.

They are still loooking fresh and lovely today.

They're still looking quite fresh today

Etrog Tree is in Bloom: 4'23

I am sooo happy.

Our Etrog tree has blossoms.

Maybe I will  get lucky and have a fruit set this year..

 

Tulip poplar in Bloom: 4 '2023

The Tulip Poplars in our backyard are in bloom.  They have pretty little blossoms, but they grow so high up in the tree that unless you are in the habit of walking around looking straight up at the sky, I doubt that you would even be aware that they are blooming. 

From the ground below the tree, they are not visible at all,  The blossoms are all on the outermost tips of the tallest branches and the foliage below them blocked my view.  I took some photos of the tree from the front yard, but then I was too far away, and when I zoomed in, the wind was moving the tree tips so much that all I got was colored blurs.

The best photos I have are of the blossoms the wind has knocked off of the trees.

As you can see, they really are quite pretty. It's just unfortunate they only bloom so high in the air .

Ashley River Park Forest Trail , 2023

 

Emboldened by the success of our 4/1/23  walk around the Ashley River Park Fishing Lakes, we decided today to explore a  more challenging trail that wanders through the low country forest bordering the Ashley River.

The trail starts out from the parking lot near the Park's main
 catch-and-release fishing lake, 

then follows an easy gravel path across a grassy field into the cypress and hardwood forest east of the lakes towards a small fishing dock on the Ashley River.

I don't know whether the fishing is good from this pier, but it is a safe and pleasant place to rest and get a good look at the Ashley River in both directions.  The photo above was taken looking east and downstream  and the photo below shows the view from the pier  looking upstream (west),

 

Getting  to the fishing dock  from the parking lot is an easy stroll, 

  but if you want to continue following the forest trail further downstream (which we did) the hiking gets a bit more adventurous.

Portions of the trail feel down-right Jurassic.

The area is swampy 

and is crisscrossed with small creeks,.

and other hazards

like cypress knees and alligators

Some of these dangers can be hard to spot in the dense native forest understory vegetation (which includes large stands of prickly saw palmetto and bamboo),

so for their visitors' safety, the park has installed long wooden walkways across the wettest sections of the trails.

And, in some sections of the trail,  the park has added soil to raise the level f the path above the surrounding area so that visitors can stay dry and have a clear view of what is around them.

In spite of its Jurassic era-like vibe, this short little trail (It is less than a mile) provides a delightful and relatively safe walk through a low country ecosystem that is usually very hard to see up close. We really enjoyed the walk and are sure to revisit it.

Easter Decorations: ' 2023

 Easter this year fell on April 9th, right in the middle of Passover.  

Since we celebrate Passover as a religious holiday, and Easter as a secular holiday,  priority was given to decorating the interior of house with Passover symbols.  On Easter Day I reset the dining room table and buffet with a spring pattern tableware and put out some colorful eggs on the buffet.

Outside the house,  we hung some plastic eggs on the lights in the sunroom.  It definitely made that room seem cheerier during the cold snap South Carolina was having.

I also put some wooden easter bunnies on the front porch

and in the front yard.  

 Unfortunately, the weather turned windy and cold so all the bunnies were packed away the day after Easter.  ( Actually, now that Passover has ended)  the Spring Flower Tableware set is going back onto the dining room table until the end of May ( along with some live flowers).

Passover '2023

 PASSOVER 2023

runs  April 5th through April 13th

As we have in the past, we had a seder on the first evening and attended Central Synagogue's live-streamed service, From that evening and throughout the remainder of the holiday we abstained from eating any leavened bread for the remainder of the holiday celebrated each day with menu items based around one of the ten plagues mentioned in the bible.

E.g. for the plague of hail. we had boiled eggs for breakfast, matza ball soup for lunch, roasted meatballs, baby potatoes, and Brussels sprouts for dinner.

Pharaoh and his army

Throughout the holiday as we recalled each new episode of the struggle to get the Pharaoh to free the Hebrews from slavery,  we used props (like frogs, flies, and locusts)  and a set of hand-painted peg dolls to reinforce the story.

Moses, Aaron, the Pharoah, the Pharoah's family and army, and props for the plagues

On the last day of Passover, the entire set of twelve tribes 

were marched across a parted Red Sea 

toward

the Promised Land.

As a  side note,  we are well aware that none of the activities listed above are required or even mentioned by Jewish law or custom ( but neither are they prohibited).  We began acting out  the story of the exodus when the COVID pandemic prohibited us from socializing with others, and we found the dioramas and props to make telling of the story so much more relatable that we decided to make them a Passover tradition in our home.  

Ashley River Park Walk-about: 4 '23

 Had a nice little walk around the fishing  pond in the

Ashley River Park fishing lake today.