Home again, home again

Colors are popping right now

After traveling, I always have a hard time getting going–there seems to be so many things to get back where they belong, so many concerns to tend to. We’ve just returned from visiting grandboys in Tennessee. But right now the foliage in our area has simply “popped” and I can’t bear to miss it.

Rather than spend time driving today, I headed right outside our door and back down to the shores of Silver Lake. When I was extremely ill and unable to drive for seven years, this walk was my daily outing. I grew to appreciate the virtue of walking in the same place day after day, season after season. But since I’ve been healthier and more independent, I’ve craved new sights, new experiences, and neglected this place  I had grown so familiar with.

Looking back up the hill toward where we live, overlooking the water

The past six months have brought on a sense of deja vu as I suffered one serious injury on top of another. There were weeks when I barely left the house. Then more weeks when I was forced to keep my foot elevated as it healed from an insect bite turned into cellulitis. And even more time spent icing my shoulder as I’ve healed from pinched nerves.

Saying ‘hello’ to neighbors along the way

Thankfully, with the coming of fall I’m able to get back out more, the weather is cooling off and the foliage that New England is justly famous for is putting on a spectacular show. I feared the drought we’re living through would result in dead leaves that simply fell off the trees. But once again this year, the trees seem to fairly glow in the sunshine.

And thus, even though it’s nearly 80 degreesF today–Indian summer–I snuck out this morning before it got too hot for me and strolled along the shores of Silver Lake, where I spent so many hours walking in years gone by.

swans enjoying the quiet near the far end of the lake

The ducks sailed in, the swans floated by, and the sunshine peeked out from behind the clouds. A glorious fall day. Enjoy!

Marjorie Turner Hollman is a writer who loves the outdoors, and is the author of Easy Walks in Massachusetts, 2nd edition, More Easy Walks in Massachusetts, 2nd edition, Easy Walks and Paddles in the Ten Mile River Watershed, and Finding Easy Walks Wherever You Are. Her memoir, the backstory of Easy Walks, is My Liturgy of Easy Walks: Reclaiming hope in a world turned upside down.