After grabbing some bagels for breakfast, I took the kids to the Tualatin Hills Nature Park this morning. It’s a very different place at mid-winter, with the leaves off the trees. It’s a study in shades of browns and grays, highlighted by the green of the evergreens. It’s very different from the verdant, almost explosively saturated greens of the summer. And it was of course wet.


Although leaves are scarce, there is no shortage of lichen. Or ferns. Or fungus.


The Big Pond at the Nature Park was overfull, due to the recent heavy rains. The shoreline was a good 8-10 feet back from the normal bank.


The flooding left some of the benches quite isolated.


There was standing water everywhere, and sections of boardwalk that are normally 1-2 feet off the forest floor were flush with the surface of the water. In some place, flood debris was piled on top of the boardwalks, indicating how high the water had recently been.

Although the stupid daffodills in the front yard are already budding, it will still be quite a long time before the trees will explosively leaf out, the water will dry up, and everything will be in bloom. I’m looking forward to it.