Jeff and I left the driveway under overcast skies, having no idea (nor care of) which direction to head out of town. He drove east. We ended up on Verona Road, heading towards Marshall.

The little Marshall Schools park and lake (Gueniveen) was crowded with three cars sitting in the dirt parking lot. It had rained enough the past couple of days to make the trails be too muddy for us to traverse, anyway.

We passed the park and kept going east. I told my cautious husband that I wanted us to stop at Bossard Farm to see if they were open. I’d tried four times in town to get some lemon grass from Horrock’s, and failed four times. Bossard was open. The greenhouse was open. I had a lovely chat with one of the owners about their having to butcher more cattle than normal (with the panic of packing plants closing and beef becoming unavailable). As I headed out, I saw a masked friend from church. I felt so happy to see someone I knew (besides husband and neighbors). I felt like a puppy wanting to wag her tail off. (Oh, this pandemic!)

Jeff then suggested we try to find the little nature area we found east of Marshall a couple of years ago. We did. Jeff packed a lunch for us. Instead of eating in under the covered table area and we chose to eat in the van in case someone joined us. The grass was too wet to hike the mower trail down to the lake. But we assume it’s right beyond the trees in the distance. (After looking at the map on the board, I found I’d assumed wrong. Still too wet to explore. We hadn’t brought proper okay-to-get-wet-in shoes or clothes.)

After the song-bird-y lunch, we continued down the road and passed Stuart lake. I have always been fascinated with the cement posts and structures near this residence. I’d love to know the history about those.

Beyond that lake is another little lake with a public access. It is called Upper Brace Lake. About 75% of what we could see from the dock was natural area. Very serene.

There is one tree near the dock which reminded me of an Ent who had gone to bathe, but froze to look like a regular tree when humans approached.

It was not a 1-3 hour hike-day, but all in all, a very pleasant morning out.

Stay safe, everyone. Pray for an end to this pandemic.