Rutland Trail, From Hallahan East

I'd finished my chores early and decided to take the dogs back to the nearby Rutland Nature Trail. We began on Hallahan Road as we usually do, but this time headed east instead of west:

Both sides of the trail are marshy and I could hear Green Frogs calling, with their voices which sound like a banjo string being plucked:

The dogs were more interested in smells and having fun:

This pink fuzz intrigued me, so I took a photo and hoped to identify it when I got home. Alas, I can find nothing online which even resembles it. I suspect it's of insect origin, but I really don't know. Does anyone out there recognize it?:

An old track bed for the Rutland Railroad, this trail is level and straight, elevated above the marshes:

And the views were stunning. Luckily, it was too cold for bugs to be out:

The dogs ran and played, sticking closer to me than usual. I barely had to yell at them at all:

This wonderful rose was, I figured, a Pasture Rose. But when I got home and looked it up, I learned that it could have been a number of species and I hadn't included in the photo the necessary details for identification. So let's just call it a wild rose:

 My knee and both ankles were painful so we didn't go far. I told the dogs we were turning around and they did so joyfully (but of course they do everything joyfully):

Pretty soon there will be a lot of delicious blackberries along this trail:

Seamus and Jack stopped to be sure I wasn't falling behind:

And then we walked the short distance back to our car:

Small Town Charm

I left my walking tour of the lawn display at Martin's Greenhouse (previous two posts) and began driving State Route 11C between Winthrop and Brasher Falls, New York. The houses were lovely and the general aura was of an incredibly pleasant place to live, so I snapped a few pictures:

Nearly all the houses had wonderful front porches. Even brand new homes in these parts usually have porches:

And there were American flags, trees and flowers everywhere:

Many homes were quite large and many had old carriage houses out behind them:

This home had flowers, front porch, trees and carriage house:

A big house with a turret. If I remember correctly, it also sat on the banks of the St. Regis River:

A wrap-around porch with chairs for sitting and chatting:

Two rocking chairs on this porch:

A lovely home, again with an extensive porch:

Elaborate ornamentation with an impressive barn out back:

See what I mean about front porches? What's not to like?:

The last house of this series was in wonderful condition. Its porch was smaller, but still big enough for small town afternoons and evenings: