Enjoying a Summery November

 I saw someone walking out of a store yesterday carrying a Christmas wreath. I thought, "What? No way!" and then had to remind myself that it's actually November. Halloween is over and people are starting to decorate for Christmas.  That's mindblowing to me as it feels like summer this week.

The only difference is, the leaves are gone.

We couldn't pass up a chance to go for a walk on a local trail in this 20C weather. This one is close to home but I have not explored much of it over the 46 years I've lived here. We didn't really go too far this time either but we enjoyed the walk and will definitely go again.

On the hill above our village is an old country road called the Scotch Line that runs through the northern portion of the Limerick Forest. It is not fit for automobiles but very popular with recreational vehicles and people walking their dogs.  Some parts of the road are naturally paved in limestone that lies at the surface level up there. Other parts of the road are often muddy or downright wet.  

Shortly after we began we came to a side road called the Old Schoolhouse Road, which is also naturally paved in places but leads to a swamp. I have no idea where the old school was, as I didn't see any sign of it on our journey today.

The recreational vehicles were out in full force though. The fact that the water covered the road far beyond where we could see didn't stop them. We saw four different vehicles make the journey into the wetlands. I do hope they made it out the other side without getting stuck. Maybe there is enough rock on the roadway through the swamp to prevent that. 

I walked through there once during a dryer period back in 2000 but it was not possible today, so we went back and continued up the Scotch Line. Old cedar rail fences line the abandoned fields. Many of them have been knocked over with the passage of time but I found this one little stretch where it was still in pretty good shape. 

There is nothing too exciting at our end of the road, but there are apparently some boardwalks into the swamp further along, and an old abandoned house somewhere too.  I love to explore trails and this time of year is perfect because there are no bugs. Summer weather in November is okay with me. Just don't mention Christmas.