Down to the Lake and a Woods Walk

Life is good. I'm adjusting to my new job and learning lots of new things. There's a reason I never order specialty coffee drinks, and that is because I never knew the difference between one or the other. Ha ha! I know now. I'm slowly adjusting to my new schedule of showering at night, going to bed early, and waking up well before daylight. The best part is getting home just a little after 1 pm with plenty of daylight left for rest and relaxation or a walk.

Yesterday I took myself down to the lake. The waves were slapping the break wall and the fishermen were enjoying both the sandbar and the areas surrounding the creek. I walked to the beginning of the pier and no farther. It was both cold and windy and so I headed back to the shelter of my car.

Not wanting to go home, I decided to take the road back to the Webster Park Campground where I have walked in previous years. Two women met to walk their dogs. I followed them into the woods but lost them as I stopped to soak in the sweetness of the trees. The scent of pine, the soft forest floor under my feet, bits of autumn color... 

A lifetime ago my sisters and I walked these woods with our parents. It was tradition, when camping 6 miles from our childhood home, to take an after lunch walk through the trees with our parents. Back in the 1970s the trees were young, strong, and healthy, the forest floor scattered with pine cones and needles, the undergrowth sparse and the space between the ground and lower pine branches open below and protected above. We often walked through the woods as far as the Mohawk Lodge. These are beautiful memories and the main reason I go back to walk through these woods again and again.

Today I took a nap after work and then a walk down through the old dead end by our woods, through the adjoining neighborhood, and back home down the main road. It's been a good day and my heart is happy.