Turkey in the meadow on a snowy morn

You know how sometimes you get the feeling that you need to "color outside the lines"? Was walking one of the paths when I veered off onto a ridge that led deeper into the swamp. Too soon the ridge petered out and I had to traverse a watery area to get to high ground again. I was doing OK walking on tree roots and downed logs until I stepped in a hole and sunk into muck to the top of my leg. Mom's warnings of 'swamp quick-sand' rang in my ears (no worries, no quick-sand here). Worse though, I broke my hornbeam walking stick. I took a route home through the woods. Plenty of fallen branches and small dead trees from which to pick a new stick. The first one I got wasn't hornbeam and I was able to break it by smashing it across another tree trunk. The next one was too thin and flexible. The one after that too thick and heavy. (Began feeling like Goldilocks.) Dragged one home that looks pretty good but is too long - a saw will fix that.