An idyllic afternoon

Cade had a playdate with his friend Christopher today. I took the opportunity to go for a walk-not the usual 5 miles per hr speed-walking, but a contemplative and meditative stroll through the Covered Bridge Park near where we live. Yes, a real covered bridge.

I discovered this park before moving to New Britain from New Hope. At first I was deceived, thinking it was your typical playground and picnic type park...but if you walk through the woods behind the playground, you come to a large open field that is used for soccer. More woods on the other side bring you out to a wide open vista, framed to the right by an old farm with a red barn and a windmill, an open field of unmown grass and flowers, and a hill across the field that once crested reveals its secret-a lake. It's actually a reservoir, and the high banks with trails on the top are the dam.

Starting today's walk by the bridge, I followed the creek to a favorite sitting spot where the water burbles and chortles its way over some rocks. A fish laboriously flopped upstream through the shallows. A fin broke the surface, waving slowly through the air for a moment or two.


Snow-like fungus


Then across the field of unmown waist-high grass and up the steep hill to be treated to the panoramic view of the reservoir spread before me at the crest. Daises by the thousands, little yellow flowers, Queen Anne's Lace on the way. Bees were doing their dance. I lifted up a piece of wood hoping to spot an early salamander and found a large black spider huddled in its tunnel.

Headed back a different way, through the woods to the soccer field (deserted). Then back through another strip of woods to the playground, bright yellow plastic slides and a red concrete pipe that Cade loves to hide in.

I headed back home feeling as though I had just done a mini meditation retreat.