Another American Adventure: morning walk

Thursday, September 9, 2010

morning walk

I heard that John Cage walked around watering his many plants before writing music. It’s the same with me and walking in the woods. I need time to settle into it. At first, Jubilee stays slightly behind me, never more than 2 or 3 feet away (who needs a leash?) It’s only after she’s gotten used to the environment that she starts to explore and lead the way.

We walked early today. It was cold (or, at least, what I call cold - high 50s) and overcast. Things looked a little different without the sun. I thought that because we were there so early we wouldn’t see anyone else, but that wasn’t the case. The maintenance man greeted us as we arrived, and we ran into 4 or 5 different people, all walking dogs. So I guess I’m not the only one that knows this is a great dog walking place.

2 comments:

Sally ClaySeptember 10, 2010 at 3:19 AM
There's something very northeastern and homey about walking in those kind of woods. It seems that the Pittsburgh area offers lots of those kind of opportunities, Where I am in Central Florida, there are few such informal locations.
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beth cioffolettiSeptember 10, 2010 at 4:24 AM
I know what you mean, Sally. IT is what I most miss in Florida - the ability to get out in the woods and hike. The weather in FL makes it difficult - though we did go through the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary last spring, and though it was terribly hot and I was dripping in sweat, it was a good walk. Kind of felt "cleansed" after getting through it. But it is a different experience hiking and climbing in cooler weather. Refreshing in a different kind of way. We have the Jonathan Dickinson Park just north of WPB that is good for walking around (and a boat ride). I've found that you really have to look for these out of the way places that are free to the public. Most state parks in FL charge a fee to get in, too, whereas the state and local parks in PA are free.
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"In those first days, people said, a squirrel could run the long length of Pennsylvania without ever touching the ground. In those first days, the woods were white oak and chestnut, hickory, maple, sycamore, walnut, wild ash, wild plum, and white pine. The pine grew on the ridgetops where the mountains' lumpy spines stuck up and their skin was thinnest.

"The wilderness was uncanny, unknown. Benjamin Franklin had already invented his stove in Philadelphia by 1753, and Thomas Jefferson was a schoolboy in Virginia; French soldiers had been living in forts along Lake Erie for two generations. But west of the Alleghenies in western Pennsylvania, there was not even a settlement, not even a cabin. No Indians lived there, or even near there.

"Wild grapevines tangled the treetops and shut out the sun. Few songbirds lived in the deep woods. Bright Carolina parakeets - red, green, and yellow - nested in the dark forest. There were ravens then, too. Woodpeckers rattled the big trees' trunks, ruffed grouse whirred their tail feathers in the fall, and every long once in a while a nervous gang of empty-headed turkeys came hustling and kicking through the leaves - but no one heard any of this, no one at all."

Annie Dillard, An American Childhood.