A Walk in the Shire

Yesterday at the end of a very, very long day,

my dearest and I decided to go for a walk

to see if the nesting goose was still there.

We saw two noisy geese on a lawn just before we got to its nesting area.

They flew off low over our heads, so we thought they might be headed to the nest.

But no one was there.



But our walk yielded some surprises.

Last week I had searched everywhere for yellow iris and found none.

This week I discovered a cluster of them, where?

In my neighbor's yard right behind my house.
I'm pretty sure there's a life lesson in there somewhere.

Another surprise was our discovery

of wild blackberries growing along the marsh.

And along our way, beautiful clematis in flower.

There were so many planted under mail box posts,

I wondered if they weren't symbolic of  messages or greetings.

They are called Traveler's Joy in Europe,

and they certainly did brighten our walk.

Finally we turned the corner for home and

passed under this plaque on one of the obelisks:

It is a quote by Van Dyke: 

 My heart is turning home again and there I long to be.

It's a pleasant way to end a walk in the Shire.

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