OWL-DRAGON

First Day of Fall


Actually on the east coast fall is tomorrow (23rd) at 12:55 AM but I celebrated it this morning with a wonderful run on the trails.

About 50F when I started out the dew heavy on the grasses. The light is wonderful; the kind of light that transfixes artists and fills you with delight in the morning. After a couple of miles in woodland it is startling to come out onto a field of goldenrod* and realize how much brighter it has become. I love looking out on all that goldenrod but soon plunge back into the woods.

I flush a small herd of deer who will shortcut through the woods and greet me one more time further down the trail. It seems very quiet this morning. I have tried to mix up my route by taking a path I haven't used before. Just as I begin to worry it is taking me to far afield it intersects with a trail I know and I turn onto familiar territory but from a new direction which makes it feel new. I have come in a great loop around and come out on another meadow filled with goldenrod and other late blooming plants.

Sometimes in summer I don't feel the woods very welcoming. The paths close in and stickers tear at me impeding my passage; the heat closes in and you feel drained, but today I feel completely one with the landscape. I am running with woods on my left and the fields on my right. A cliché I am sure but idyllic is the only word that describes it.

*Goldenrod and ragweed are often confused. Goldenrod does not cause allergies. I did see ragweed too but Arboretum has encouraged the goldenrod hence the large expanses of it just outside their deer fence.