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14 October ~ 2007
Today me and the dogs went down to the Greenbelt in the rain. The creamy yellows of the Box Elder leaves and the purple red of the Viburnum were made richer by the moisture of the morning.It rained all night long, and we had to alter our path to avoid pools of standing water.I kneeled down and took off my hat and placed my palm on the flat root, as is my tradition. It seems right to do this, and I never forget - have been doing it for years.
Once I was across the meadow when a mature bald eagle landed in the old Cottonwood. I watched the eagle for more than an hour, and it was still in the tree when I climbed the ridge and looked back. The eagle may have felt as comfortable there as I do, and is it a stretch to think that it sensed the same good spirits and peace among those trees?
Friday I had a group of kids from Denver on my nature walk who were still learning English. When I tried to teach them about adapting to winter - hibernation, migration, storing food, many had a quizzical look on their face, and I knew they were not undertanding me. The teacher who accompanied us often spoke to them in Spanish.
Still, they had a good time, and may remember this trip for years to come. After Amanda with Rocky Mtn Bird Observatory showed them a Dark Eyed Junco, a Woodpecker, and a Catbird that had been caught in the sampling nets, I took the kids out to the lake where we found fresh deer and fox tracks. (no raccoon tracks this time). Five Great Blue Herons where at the point and the children watched them fly off with their deep slow wingbeats. On the way back through the cottonwood woodlands, I played my harmonica to try to get them to guess which Disney Movie move a tree like this is in. (Grandmother Willow, Pocahontas). We flushed a Great Horned Owl, and the kids found a caterpillar, and several cavities as the base of the trees that animals might weather storms in during winter. (although underground would be a more likely spot because of the warmth).
I have done these programs enough to know what the kids are going to remember. It also may be that I recall the magic of exploring the woods myself as a boy, and reclaim some of that feeling walking with these children. It really was a mysterious adventure for them. They kept asking me if I knew where we were, or are we lost?
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