Again today, I took my unruly dogs
walking in the neighborhood. I love to walk at this time of year
because of the color and the many feasts for my eyes, also for the
cooler weather and still not having to wear any kind of a coat. This
last benefit will be over soon. Another of the wonders of walking in
the neighborhood at this time of year are the beautiful displays of
spider webs. Today is foggy, and when there is fog in the Fall, the
spider webs are visible in abundance. These webs are master creations
of skill and exquisiteness that I love to see. Not far into our walk
there is a row of juniper hedge that features about 20 plants. In
between each plant there are two to three magnificent spider webs. It
would be my pleasure to stay and feast my eyes on this bounty of
artwork, and feel like I am cheating myself by needing to walk by. I
do wonder what the owners of the house would think if I were to
station myself outside their dwelling and gaze upon the webs to my
heart's content. I suspect that they would not be appreciative.
Another major treat at this time of year is a house on our walk route
that has three magnificent maple trees that bloom bright crimson. It
is my practice to walk/drive by there as often as possible during
their morph from green leaves to red, and then their ultimate fall to
the ground. At present, this annual spectacle is almost entire
crimson, but with one section that is still greenish and a little
behind the other leaves. The contrast is magnificent. All too soon,
this display will be gone until next year. Again, I wonder if the
inhabitants of the house would mind if I stood and admired for a
period of time, rather than walking briskly by.
Today was our first day walking since
last Friday. Over the weekend, and many if not every weekend, trash
begins to accumulate at bus stops, in the park that we pass, and
everywhere else. The bane of trash collectors like me is that once an
area has been picked up, a few days later it needs to be done again.
While this does not keep me from making my rounds to pick up trash,
it does make me wonder about the thought process that is, or is not,
taking place when humans drop trash. Suspecting that I will never
know how such decisions are made, or not, it does keep me busy. By
the end of our walks, I almost always have a full plastic bag of
trash to sort and dispose of. At this time of year when Halloween
candy is being sold and consumed everywhere, a plethora of 'fun size'
candy wrappers are in evidence. Following Halloween, we will move on
to the next variety of seasonal trash. That makes it sound like there
are seasons of trash, and perhaps there are. Here's to feeling
compelled to pick up trash!
Another feature of our walks, is
meeting construction workers. Our maniacal dogs gave up spending
energy barking and lunging at construction workers long ago. We meet
many of the same flaggers while a construction job is in progress,
and many of them are confirmed dog-lovers. Perhaps that is a
prerequisite (unspoken and unacknowledged) for the job. I find it a
pleasure to meet others who love dogs, and are happy to share a few
words and smiles. There is something of a community when people can
interact, pet dogs, and share a few minutes with each other. For
someone who used to be very shy indeed, it is a pleasure to meet
others who want to connect in this way.
Who would have thought that walking
dogs in my neighborhood could be so rewarding; I would not have,
until it happened to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment