A trip to Yakima today meant I could take time to walk at an old haunt–Cowiche Canyon uplands. In another life, this was prime dogwalk territory, the place to start hiking after winter slothfulness, the place to watch spring arrive, and sketch. Today I found that I had missed the grass widows and yellowbells.

But there was phlox and Hooker’s balsamroot.

There were sagebrush violets, coyote tears, and thyme-leaf buckwheat.

It would have been good to spend more time. The air was still today, and full of moisture under a flat gray sky. I would have liked to walk down the trail to the creek, past the basalt columns. Maybe another day–my heart isn’t yet strong enough to climb back up. I came home and found a sketch from 10 years ago.