I found a set of car keys on the trail and later a policeman found yet another set, this one to a black Audi. Both runners got their keys back and drove away with their dogs. I keep my keys attached to my clothes with a big safety pin from the Rock Hill YMCA. The pin has the number of the wire basket they would give you to keep your clothes in while you swam. I remember walking three blocks to the Y at 2:00 pm with my neighbor, Reedy Montgomery in the summer. I was about 12 years old.
A man dressed in dark shirt, heavy long pants, curly hair and granny glasses, toting a large backpack passed me saying,"I stopped smoking in October and gained 52 pounds. I have never weighed this much."
"Keep on walking." I shouted as he passed on by, opened the door of a gold Mercedes, tossed in his pack, got in and disappeared into the traffic.
Along a stretch of old railroad tracks, large colonies of cathedral like Common Mullein (Verbascum thapsus, related to the snapdragon) is flowering yellow blossoms, some 6 feet tall. I found this interesting note in my wildflower fieldbook:
"...an introduced biennial with very velvety leaves, it has long been used for many purposes. Roman soldiers are said to have dipped the stalks in grease for use as torches. The leaves are still used as wicks in some areas. Indians lined their mocassins with the leaves to keep out the cold, and colonists used them in their stockings for the same purpose. A tea made from the leaves was used to treat colds, and the flowers and roots were employed to treat various ailments from earaches to croup. The leaves are sometimes applied to the skin to sooth sunburn and other inflammations."
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