I hiked February 24, with light snow on the ground. It was a different experience from the fall. My plant friends were asleep, and I missed them. When I got back and looked at my photos, the colors seemed so muted compared to other months. All the same, there is still beauty in February. I found goldenrod-colored lichens, blazing away in on the east side of a tree near the Edwards Wetland; I loved the way the snow outlined the deer trails and lingered there longest; and it was fun to track raccoons and wild turkeys. Also seen or heard: A flicker who gave me a brilliant flash of yellow tail/wings. Red-twig dogwood at its reddest. Two trees of different species grown so tightly together they look like they are kissing. Their trunks have mashed together and lost proper trunk-shape. Edwards Wetland unobstructed by trees. I do not know this part of Merry Lea at all.