Easter and Pictures and nothing very acedemic

My husband and I usually have Fridays off together.   We try to go hiking or at least get into the woods each week.  This week (Good Friday) we hiked Five-Mile Mountain, in the Tongue Mt. Range just North of Lake George.  It was a perfect day - sunny and 50 degrees.   There is still 4' of snow on some parts of the trail but we managed without snowshoes.   This week has been rain with bits of sunshine and it has been warm which has brought about a very distinct change of seasons.    The early flowers are now in full bloom and things are turning green fast.   It makes me a little sad that summer will be here so soon, and I hope that I don't miss anything of the spring.

I had a great time identifying this furry little unopened bud

This is the leaf which belongs to the hairy purple stem... (oh yeah, you have to wait until my next post to find out what it is... if you can identify it now you get 500 bonus points.   Points are worth nothing)

These little mushrooms were so tiny that my lens had a hard time focusing on them.  The black tops are about as big as poppy seeds.

** A reader informed me that what I assumed were little mushrooms are in fact the spore capsules of the moss on which they are growing.  Thanks, mousedude! **

The Juniper berries are pungent and fun to chew on.  The grouse on this mountain must be fat indeed, I found several Juniper bushes loaded with berries.  

A strange landscape

Someone left this Styrofoam cup 1/2 full of coffee on the trail.  Really people?  We took it home.   

Easter morning we have a tradition with a group of friends.   Rather than an easter-egg hunt or easter lilies in the front of church and the typical easter hymns we hike up a ridge in the dark and watch the sun rise.  It is a great representation of the struggle (it's steep) and darkness (we start hiking at 4:30am) that we all experience in the world, and as the sun rises, it symbolizes the son being resurrected in us.  Being made new, rediscovering peace, resurrecting our selves and leaving the ugliness and mistakes in our wake.  

It was a beautiful morning, and the sweetness of being with friends whom I love was great.  

There was a heavy fog in the valley and the layering of cloud and earth was captivating.  

And, on the way down we found beautiful spring flowers!