Monday, February 2, 2015

One of my favorite walks

I'd love to tell you about a place that's slowly becoming more and more dear to my heart. How about you come on a walk with me? It's a walk that I make often and I'd love to be able to share it with you, though I'll make it a little shorter since you're with me. There are so many things that I'd like to point out, but I'll try to let the beauty speak for itself.

Let me paint this world for you:
There's a beautiful light blue sky above, heavily guarded by thick grayish clouds, allowing the sun to burst out occasionally and say a quick hello before retreating again.
There's a slight breeze that gently sweeps across the path in front of us, causing the bushes and bare tree branches to stir and relinquish the few brown leaves left clinging to them.
The light and dark brown leaves rustle past us, skipping and rolling up the path.

As we walk along, the bouncing leaves startle several female Cardinals nesting in the bushes by our feet, and the birds spring up unexpectedly, chirping lightly as they quickly flit away. We try to follow their flight but they are soon lost to our sight, as their light brown feathers soon camouflage them among the trees.

We continue our walk, following the leaves on their helter-skelter way. The trees surround us now, reaching their bare fingers towards the sky, swaying in the wind, their branches lightly clacking together. Looking to either side, the forest floor is a tangle of brown and gray, with leaves and branches scattered about, blending each tree with another, creating a forest of webbed branches.

We notice squirrels jumping from tree to tree and racing from branch to branch. As they bound along, their bushy tails twitch. They freeze for a brief moment to watch us, deciding if they need to dash away or if it's ok to go about their business.

Through the trees, we begin to come across houses on either side. They don't seem intrusive or out of place; rather, they seem to belong here. Each house is unique and seems to capture a piece of what it means to live and move through this forest. One house has a porch that appears like a watch tower, peering through the trees. Another house is set far back from the road with a small bridge to cross over an even smaller brook.

We soon come to our own small bridge and we pause for a moment to see if we can hear the tiny brook. If you listen very closely, you can hear it quickly and quietly murmuring past you. Once we've listened to the secret of the water, we start to stroll up a steep hill that's paved and well-light. We hear a train horn in the distance as we wind our way up the path, admiring the sky and concentrating on not breathing too hard. Once or twice, I say, I've come across some deer on this hill. They haven't run from me, but we've stared at each other before slowly going back to our own separate worlds.

The trees fall back a little at the top of the hill as we've entered a slightly more residential area. These townhouses fit with the scenery as well, appearing very cosy and sheltered but not entirely tamed. There are patches of tress here too, blending the landscape again. Some pine cones litter the sidewalk as we continue on our way. Thus far, our path has been a very straightforward one. Now we'll make a right turn off the sidewalk and cut through another section of the woods.

The trees surround us once again, but they're pushed back from the path so we finally have a clear view of the sky and the land, which seems like it stretches on forever. I've seen more deer here, I say. In fact, we've startled each other a few times, and I laugh as I think about it. I've also come upon a fox, hiding in the bushes. As we keep walking, some Robins fly right in front of us, landing on branches above us as they observe our trek. If you're really lucky, I say, you'll see a Blue Jay. I think they're one of my favorites.

Another squirrel dashes in front of us and away as fast as it can, up a tree to watch. We've made it back to the main road now, so our walk is done. I'll turn towards my home and you'll head back to yours. Thanks for letting me show you how beautiful it is here and thanks for joining me on one of my favorite walks.