Category Archives: Seasonal

Walktober 2018

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Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake. ~Wallace Stevens, American poet

It’s time once again for Walktober, the group walk organized by Robin of Breezes at Dawn. It’s not too late to get in on the fun (Oct. 28 is the cutoff date), so step into your sneakers and join us!

For this year’s trek, I traveled to Lake Shelbyville, a reservoir located in Central Illinois formed by damming the Kaskaskia River. Some $57 million was set aside (a hefty chunk of change back in 1963!) for the project, which was dedicated in 1970.

Managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Lake offers 11,000 acres of surface waters, 172 miles of shoreline, and 23,000 acres of surrounding public lands dedicated as state parks. More than 4 million visitors a year come here to swim, fish, boat, hike, camp, picnic, or sight-see.

What are we waiting for? Let’s start walking!

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Help Me ID Her

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What a significance wild flowers have, more than the tamed productions of the garden! They seem Heaven’s own messengers sent straight to man to bear glad tidings of universal and undying love. ~Henry James Slac, English journalist

What is this beauty?

She arises every year

Unplanned, yet welcome.

Another Loss

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For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver. ~Martin Luther, German professor of theology

A knot
Just big enough for a little girl’s rear
To sit astride, pretending she’s riding a pony.

A hole in its trunk
Ideal for concealing notes and trinkets
Meant for sharing with friends.

A canopy of shady branches
Perfect for three girlfriends to lie beneath
And find pictures in the passing clouds,
While whistling with the helicopter seeds.

Four trunks wide enough
To camouflage two Hide-n-Seekers
Watching ‘It’ and gauging when
It’s safe to race for Home.

Halloween brought friendly mischief
In the form of toilet papering,
That rite of passage in small towns
Delighting teens and vexing parent cleaner-uppers.

Countless birds and squirrels
Made nests and raised young here.
Cats became frozen statues at its base
Waiting and watching for something to fall down.

Mother Nature can be wrathful
Whipping up a wicked summer storm
That fells trees and costs homeowners
Not only money but memories.

Note: This Silver Maple sits on the property line between our house and our next-door neighbor. It was immense when I was a child, and part of me expected it to live forever. Sadly, a storm thought differently — two years after Domer’s Sugar Maple blew over. R.I.P., old friend.