It's been a rough day. Hadn't planned on walking, but by now Lu-dog knows the routine. I couldn't say no. So, although we waited out the rain, we braved the wind and were rewarded with the first flowers of spring. (I think they are plum blossoms, but I'm not sure.) On the plus side, our route used to take 50 minutes and now it takes 30. Progress is progress.

I must have taken this same shot over a thousand times by now. Something in it has never failed to capture my imagination. The towers become windmills and I'm still tilting at them, literally quixotic.

These stones are what's left of the original wall that fell during the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. We're far too far inland to ever need to worry about the latter but the former was troubling enough. The logs interspersed with the stones are the remnants of a tree that fell at the same time. The wall has long since been repaired, but the damaged stones being left behind seems somewhat poetic.

Part of the repair process is to look at what went wrong and to try to prevent things from breaking in exactly the same way the next time around. In this case, bolts are anchored between the stone blocks to help them stay upright when the earth shakes.

Lucy the dog, looking around before heading down the open road. She's excited to search out all the new birds and mice that are beginning to crawl out of their hiding spots.

I almost didn't see this tree stump; almost walked right by it. But, there it is, a perfect fairy garden, just waiting for some passing sprites to land and occupy it. As always, thanks to @tattoodjay and all the members of the #wednesdaywalk community!