Where Even the Weeds Make a Garden

It was cool along the path -- especially beside the shaded easterly bank -- and pedestrian traffic was light. After a stormy, growling sort of Sunday, Monday was beginning blue-sky brilliant. The water had been glassy when I passed earlier on an errand into town, but by now the breeze had largely completed its daily dawning duty of brushing the glossy surface into matte. The tractor roared by, leaving in its wake the eponymous mown grass sent of spring. With iPod buds in my ears and a brand new Peter Mayer album to enjoy, I stretched my legs briskly along, pausing every now and then to enjoy a surprising blossom or an uninhibited bird.

And I shivered -- not for chill, but for sheer delight. Circumstances have kept us from taking much advantage of these footsteps in the last year or so; circumstances and, of course, winter. It's true that park personnel plow the trail throughout the snows of winter, but the thought has never held out much appeal to us. We tend to be more the afghan/fireplace/cozying kind of folk than ski mask/goose down/thermal glove hiker types when the temperatures plunge sub-zero. But we have missed it, and have looked forward to taking again, full advantage.

Taking another deep breath, I think how I could get used to starting everyday this way -- if everyday were early May, the air fairly sparkled, the birds were chirping and the sun were in the sky. Everything feels shower-fresh new -- including me, which is strange enough for a perspiring guy with still barely-concealed bedhead. Deep breaths all around, with no task to complete other than putting one foot in front of the other and navigating the 2-mile trail around gently waving and evocative beauty.


Coincidentally -- or perhaps just perfectly -- the last song of the album fades to silence as the trail nears my car. The sun is higher, the cars are louder, and it somehow feels right to head back home and shift into the next part of the day. I'm not sure what that will be or how it will go, but after the lake the bar has been set pretty high. Here, even the dandelions look pieces of art.