It’s fresh air blowing in out of the WNW at 15-25 miles per hour; gusts are up into the 40’s. While the temperatures hover in the upper 50’s, it’s what amounts to a perfect fall day. It’s a day void of sunshine, but the winds fill in for comfort. With the late autumn foliage and it’s array of colors, it’s a great day for taking pictures without all of the otherwise distracting shadows.
This afternoon my wife Cindy and I came out to a favorite bluff-top ridge, overlooking a favorite river, in a favorite forest preserve here in the Stateline Area. We walked and talked and let our dog Kora run happy and carefree. Later we built a fire in the old limestone picnic shelter. It was a small fire made from the spark of my flint and steel, and embedded in the fibrous bark of a red cedar tree. From there I used small twigs I found on the ground from the surrounding hickories and burr oaks. I cut the dried cottonwood poles that I had brought along into ten inch sections to add to the sweet scent of the smoke. In my old aluminum pot I heated water for hot chocolate, and together with some pieces of coffee cake that Cindy had made yesterday, we settled in as we watched the cloud-veiled sun set in the southwest skies. Its dim rays showed through the treetops of the woods on the other side of the river.
While several barred owls serenaded us with their soft booming calls of, “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?”, we peeled away the scales of stress and life. For this one moment of time, we took this precious shard from the jars of clay of which we are and allowed the winds to purge our souls.
I journaled while Cindy read; sometimes aloud when she came upon something poignant and symbolic to where we are in our journey through life. It gave us something to think upon as Kora ate her food and watched things beyond our senses in the woods surrounding us. Kora is ever alert, and I’ve learned through our outdoor ramblings to watch her, because she will notice wildlife and changes through the various sounds and smells long before I ever do. The flicker, a species of woodpecker, being the latest to catch her attention.
Now, as the embers glow, and the cool draft draws smoke up the old chimney, the darkness of the evening begins to creep in from the surrounding trees. It is not the fingers of shadows so common at sundown, but instead a pervasive feeling that permeates my inner being. I don’t find it foreboding, however, but instead embrace it and find strength within the darkness at the day’s end. We are smack dab in the throes of the changing seasons; on the heels of fall and at the doorstep of winter. The winds rattling the oak leaves overhead inform me of this, and I am listening.
See you along The Way…
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Thundering Paws Up The Trail
THE PICTURES
