Instead of walking on the beach yesterday, I walked around Hathaway's Pond, which is in a conservation area, mostly wooded. The path around the pond is somewhat rough--not the kind one could push a baby carriage on, say, but one dogs enjoy romping on. Rachel and I used to walk around the pond frequently while Molly was still alive. I had not been there since early in the winter.
Immediately I had to duck under a tree that was fallen, held up by it's tangle of limbs caught in the trees that had caught it and stopped it's fall onto the path. And so it went all the way around the pond, several leaning over the path and many more fallen, often not quite to the ground. I could not help thinking of a battlefield. Indeed the high winds of winter's blizzards are to blame for all the devastation.
The day was mild and the breeze that might have been quite chilly at the beach was pleasant among the trees which are not yet showing promise of leaves, although some of the briars which are plentiful near the path were rosy or turning chartreuse. Spring is just a hint here in the woods. Out in the lawns of homes crocuses are beginning to open. If the weather continues in the high 40s and low 50s spring will burst forth ... it is time. We have had a harder winter than in the previous four years I've been here. I am ready for a change and so are all the friends I talk to -- and it's a subject that comes up often.
I suspect these trees are going to stay where they are for some time. This is only a tiny bit of a rather large area of wild wood. I've approached it from other entry points and do not understand the tangle of paths through the gerrymandered form of the area. I blame a walk in a different section for the nasty tick that bit me a couple of springs ago and sent me to the hospital. Thank goodness it did not carry Lymes disease but a bug called earlycosis (which may not be spelled that way) and was cured quickly once identified so that the right antibiotic could be prescribed. Never mind the unseen dangers of walking in the woods. I still enjoy it and don't plan to stop although in really warm weather it's the beach that calls to me.
3 comments:
I think of Thoreau's Walk In The Woods when I read of your experiences. I wonder if Thoreau had tick bites? Or are they (ticks) invaders from afar? Be careful with your feet -- those trees can put down some twisting branches that trip folks real easy. But overall I love walking in such intricate woods. It tells me who is boss of this world.
It's when you get out there that you realize how harsh the winter, with the heavy snows and the winds that went on for hours on end, really impacted. I miss walking on the beach and have tried but it is still too cold and breezy for me to enjoy it. I also miss sunsets and have a great idea for this summer......I'll let you in on it....the "Ten best" places to see the sunset on the Cape. One a week, different place. Group of folks getting together. In?
Yes, Barbara, you're right, in fact, I moved a couple of branches away from the trail.
Lynn, of course I'm in. The trick is knowing in the afternoon that it's going to be a "sunset evening."
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