Reconnecting From a Distance

With times being what they are, there seems to be more time to reconnect. I recently heard a celebrity promote that we aren't social distancing from each other so much as we are physically distancing ourselves.

So with no place in particular to go on a Saturday afternoon, Wayne and I extended  our walk to a farm field trail leading off of Lily pond's access road.  We hadn't intended to take this trail but there were two trucks in the parking area at the pond and lately three or four persons makes a crowd.

The trail follows the edge of the field along Lily pond's north east bank. About half way up the straightaway is where I have been trying to take the same photograph for each season and so we paused for a moment there. I was hoping to catch the beaver or otters out and about, but no such luck. We could see that the beaver lodge had lengths of freshly stripped, glistening white trees on top. We concluded it was reasonable that the beaver is still around though we didn't see any recently felled trees at this overlook.

We picked up some hoofprints and stepped around copious amounts of equine manure while walking to the end of the straightaway. There along the backside of the field, we found what must have been a very tasty tree for it had freshly chiseled teeth marks on new growth emanating from a previously felled tree's stump. Having decided to continue following the horse trail we walked around the next corner of the field and headed in the opposite direction of the pond in the direction of Pond road.

For the first time following this trail, we decided to not backtrack to the pond but instead turned left across to what we thought would be the field on Lily Pond road, however the horses had lead us to a VAST trail instead. The hoofprints lead down a charming wooded path back towards the pond. It was at the end of this path that we met Liam and his dad fishing. Daryl Clark came out to meet us when we did finally reach Lily pond road and we learned that his family once had a hundred head of dairy cattle on his farm. Before we could make it to Pond road the Galdamez family from our neighborhood greeted us from their bikes. I remarked to Wayne how nice it was to see so many people outdoors.

Maybe what we are actually doing these days isn't distancing at all. Perhaps what we are really doing is reconnecting. -Norma Manning

Wayne, Luna and Ginny 

A tasty tree if you are a beaver

Liam and his dad