Here and There

A week or two ago I made an aborted attempt at following the trail along the Ashuelot River. I had forgotten to put on bug spray and the mosquitoes turned me back. On this day I remembered the bug spray and tried again. We’d had thunderstorms during the week and the river was high. That meant I probably wouldn’t be seeing ducks or herons fishing the shallows because there were few shallows. Even the low water over in the little cove to the right, a favorite gathering place for Canada geese, had no geese in it. It was a beautiful day. I was here just before the heat and humidity blew in from the Midwest so it was about as close to perfect as a summer day can be. There were lots of blueberries ripening. It looks like a good year for berries of all kinds. That’s because we’ve been having regular weekly rains, I think. No water, no life. The first Allegheny monkey flowers (Mimulus ringens) of the season bloomed in a few places scattered along the riverbank. I’ve never seen a monkey in…