The Marsh at McDonough

This morning my long-suffering spouse accompanied me to the McDonough Wildlife refuge in Vienna, WV, just a few miles from our house. I must admit that I'm partial to the refuges around Toledo because they have the virtue of being flat, but the marsh area at our local park was definitely worth visiting, even though I'm still not able to do the steeper trails on the rest of the 277-acre refuge.
 The native blue flag iris was in full bloom, a spectacular sight.

The strappy foliage of one plant sported a coordinating dragonfly.

Bullfrogs were calling, and mallards were being amusing, as mallards generally are. There's just something adorable about duck butts.

The wet meadow on an overcast day looked like something from an Impressionist painting.

And the forest behind the pond was (supply your own adjective or other descriptive phrase).

I had forgotten that all this (along with all the trails not taken this morning) sits right on the edge of classic Mid-Ohio Valley suburbia.