Washed-Out Weekend

So here's a quick list of what I SHOULD have been doing this past weekend:

• Cleaning up the garden
• Painting my "plant table" so it had a few days to dry before tender plants had to come inside and spend the winter there
  
• Primping and painting/sealing the window that is unfortunately located inside the tub/shower
• Planting some of the many perennials that are sitting out on my driveway, waiting for a winter home
• Canning more applesauce and apple butter
  
• And about a hundred other chores that needed to be finished!
  

And here's a hint as to what I did instead:

This weekend, Steve and I joined one of our volleyball teammates, his girlfriend, and 6 of their friends on a 2-night camping trip to Mohican Reservation.  We shared some campfires, a few spirits, many hamburgers and cheese brats, and millions of raindrops.  In spite of the rain, we had a good time... yes, even when yours truly managed to tip over one of these:

In my defense, it was my very first canoe trip ever and I HAD managed to "pilot" us through a few rocks before we went right over top of the big one.  (I didn't even see that rock, honestly, until it was too late.)  On the bright side, the boat didn't crack and start to take on water a la the Titanic... and Steve had been through about a dozen canoe trips without capsizing once, so I'm happy that I was able to help him out with a new canoeing experience!  ;)

Between the canoe trip and the raindrops, it was hard to capture many photos for posterity.  But I did get some cool ones early Saturday afternoon, when Steve and I ventured off for a walk down the river. Here are some highlights:

 

Fern growing in a cracked tree trunk along the riverbank.

Fun photo of moss growing on a tree

Same moss, same tree, different perspective

Speaking of moss growing on a tree, isn't that (or maybe lichen?) supposed to grow only on the north side of a tree?  Both seemed to be growing on all sides of the trees scattered along the Mohican River.

Lichen-encrusted tree, with an ant.  Steve noticed him and we both admired his industriousness--it seemed like a lot of work for him to be carrying that fly carcass, and he was fairly high up the tree.  (Almost at eye level!)

Cool-looking fungus of some sort. It was so close to the shore that it reminded me of a creature that might jump back into the water at any time.

Shelf fungus. There were many of these scattered around in the trees. The largest one--which we just couldn't get a good picture of, because of the lighting--was about 9ft up in one tree, and about the size of half of a serving platter.

I assume this is some kind of a fern growing in this tree crotch--it's so pretty and airy, and I love that it seemed to "capture" the maple leave.  Can anyone give me an ID on the fern? 

A few people were fishing in one of the many shallow areas as we started our walk.  When we came back toward the campsite they were gone so we walked down toward the bank they had vacated.  While investigating the river more closely there, we discovered that they--or someone who visited before them--had created an artistic arrangement of rocks on this log:

And then I amused myself for a few minutes, trying to capture on film (or should I say on computer chip?) one of the many leaves that were floating down the river:

"Leaf in Water" photo, attempt 1. Fairly well centered, but too far away.

"Leaf in Water" photo, attempt 2. Now THIS is better... nevermind that I had to "cheat"--by taking a photo of a leaf that wasn't actually moving in the water--in order to get such a good close-up!

The only bad thing about having fun and ignoring your "To Do" list is that it doesn't magically get shorter while you're away.  So all of those items still need to be done--and the undone table-painting came back to bite me last night when I had to bring in all of my houseplants as the temperatures dropped.  Boo.

So maybe I'll get a few things crossed off of my list this weekend instead... that is, if nothing more exciting comes up in the meantime.  :)  Have a great weekend, everyone!