Alabama Visit

I've just returned from a 10-day trip to Alabama to care for my brother while my sister and her BF took a vacation. They chose a good week to travel because the weather, for the most part, was very warm and pleasant. There were two record-breaking days when the temperature got up to 85! I doubt that is a good thing for February but it certainly felt good.

Upon arrival, however, there were some extremely cold days but those were short-lived. I take advantage of these trips to catch up on my reading and I feel like I'm finally back in reading mode after a long dry spell of very little reading or none at all. If you enjoy books and are on GoodReads or StoryGraph, look me up so that we can connect. I'm always interested in what people are reading.

As usual on these visits, a daily trip to the creek in always in order as my brother loves it. We spent almost every day playing at the creek, which is located about 1/4 of a mile behind the house down in the woods, when we were kids.

Unfortunately, this is a very muddy time for walking in the woods. A few rain-soaked and stormy days kept us away altogether but despite the mud, we made the trek on clear days.

Part of the reason for the mud is the extreme clay soil -

Compounding the soil conditions are cows, belonging to relatives who live on adjacent property, who use the trails and make deep ruts in the ground that make walking even more difficult.

The creek is downhill from the house and the land drops on a steady incline. The trees in the woods consist mainly of pine, oak, cedar, sycamore and hickory. I know of only one dogwood and it is a puny one. 

Before we decided to move cross-country to Washington state, I had visions of building a house on one of the few level areas, an area that sits on a small plateau. Along the back edge, you can see where the land drops off sharply down to the creek.

Every time I visit that area, I have mixed feelings and wonder what living in the middle of the woods would have been like. It would certainly be an idyllic setting and I would have had a long winding driveway that I've always dreamed of (inspired by Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca). On the other hand, I know that the venture would not have been that easy - getting water and electricity to the location, etc. and I know from my parent's experiences that maintaining a house on this constantly shifting clay soil presents many challenges. As a kid, I remember that my father periodically jacked up the house to make repairs to the continually shifting foundation. And as Michael always says, living in Alabama during the Trump years would have certainly pushed us over the edge!

On this visit, I noticed the fallen tree and wondered what problems that would have presented - I'm sure it would have hit the house or our cars.

There were subtle signs of spring arriving and I'm sure the warm days will be accelerating nature.  Not sure what these little sprouts are -

Years ago, when still dreaming of the house in the woods, I planted various things along the trails and by the creek. Almost everything died as summers are very brutal here and if you can't supply water to plants, they are in deep trouble.  One notable exception is this mahonia, which looks perfectly happy here. I've never seen them growing anywhere else on the property.

And, you can't beat the daffodils. They were so beautiful blooming along the creek and the trails.

The following photo with the white daffodils and clump of rocks was taken along a trail that leads up to the house site (located at the top horizon).

And these cute little wildflowers (Claytonia virginica) were blooming on the banks of the creek. I should know what these are but alas, I do not -

While I was away, the weather here in Washington proved that winter is not over yet and we got blasted with a big snowfall. It has been sputtering snow and rain today and it is cold. I was hoping to get out and start the winter clean-up and survey damage, but I opted to stay inside today.

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy