This is a forlorn section of my walk that has started to turn green. When the days lengthen, the sun intensifies and the moisture evaporates, it will return to everyday dirt. But for now its parameters have become ideal for the production of moss, a kind of scum that covers the earth from time to time. It grows on the backside of trees to avoid the sun, which is a way to find north in a crowded forrest, and in shadowy areas under leaves and the shade of walls. It is often associated with decay and forgottenness. But to give it credit, it has turned this dismal patch of ground into something worth stopping to look at. It is a sign that there is always hope.