The beginning of this week greeted us with some 40 degree  (~4.4 degrees Celsius) weather and a fleeting glimpse of the bare ground.  I decided to use the opportunity to poke around in the woods near the house.

I have read that you can use birch bark to create a natural pink dye.  I always thought of this as odd considering that birches appear so lightly tinted, but on a closer look at the backside of the bark you can see the hints of pink peeking through.

I found quite the collection of mushrooms out there.  Odd, considering the time of year, and the subzero weather of last week.  My Grandmother used to send my Mother out into the woods to collect mushrooms for her.  I have never learned how to correctly forage for them myself, but I find them interesting to look at and photograph.

The woodpeckers have been out in force.  Here are some dead trees that have been pecked all the way through.