Field Notes: Spring 2022
Pink joy of spring
I walk slowly along a section of the trail, looking for Fringed Polygala, small bright pink flowers crested with a white fringe.
“Are we too late?” I ask Asha. “Please tell me we haven’t missed them.”
Wondering: One walk, one afternoon
A friend is coming to visit from the differently beautiful landscape where we met and conversed over cups of tea and knitting.
We are planning on an afternoon walk and an evening meal.
Do Asha and I walk with her along a dirt road where spring ephemerals bloom and a chorus of Spring Peepers sings? Or along a woodland path where we can admire plump Red Maple buds, then sit on a fallen White Pine and listen to Red-winged Blackbirds? Or a trail where we can kneel down and smell Trailing Arbutus, then walk alongside a brook, full and loud after last night’s rain?
How do I choose?
How do I condense miles of delights into one walk?
How do I convey years of paying attention in one afternoon?
A new-to-us trail
Asha and I meander up, down
and around,
under Eastern Hemlocks,
along a brook,
past yet another beaver pond,
across stone walls and streams,
over boulders,
among moss-covered stumps
and young hardwood trees.
Time fades.
I both do and don’t know where we are.
You may also like:
Fall 2020 – On a path; Treasure; November
Winter 2020/2021 – Circle in the snow; Snow: Beyond shoveling; Returning
Spring 2021 – A change within; How I spent the morning; Glide; The time it takes; A glimpse
Summer 2021 – Stretching lessons; No stepping stones; A red-feathered lesson in priorities
Early Fall 2021 – Second annual Gentian Day; Sitting with Tea and Tang; Eyes-closed listening; Not alone: Companions in the woods; Learning a new language: Then and now
Late Fall 2021 – I almost said; Letter to myself after reading Hafiz; First snow
Winter 2021/2022 – Breadcrumbs; But then, so when, and then; Winter visitors; My inner three-year-old meets ice; Tender hope, holy beauty
