A few days ago my son and I intended to take our Schipperke dog, Raven for a walk in what we thought would be a patch of woods then through a clearing where the path curved 'round one side of a man-made pond--then home.
But when we arrived at the point where the path veers off west to the pond we saw that it now splits and a second path continues north. About 50 feet down the new path we were surprised to find a newly-constructed walk-bridge over Salt Creek. It allows one to cross and begin an uninterrupted journey through the woods for the better part of a mile.
What an upgrade for our neighbourhood!*edit/After I wrote this I thought of the woods that
were felled in making this new path. I feel badly about the trees and
the animals, too--but I feel worse when I see a subdivision full of
extreme(ly expensive) homes go up--gobbling up what little open space remains in this neck of the
Northwest Chicago suburbs..
I am totally jazzed. Even though we have lots of places to walk, they are next to something other than just trees, like trees...and the road, or greenery and a field...which borders on a highway.
This path though is in the woods. Granted, on occasion one can peak through the thinning fall foliage to see houses in the distance or even closer in spots but it is still uninterrupted nature for about a mile and it starts within feet of our home.
I am very happy about this for several reasons.
Who doesn't love a walk through the woods? And being every inch a suburbanite I don't need to slog through the woods--a neat bike/walk path is fine for me.
Also, I've been a bit bored for a long while with the scenery pickings in our neighbourhood as well as very dismayed watching so much of it fall prey to developers banking on the greed of the long-time Palatine mayor who endorsed so much of the over-building of everything from crappy-looking condos to McMansion monstrosities.
The photobug in me is actually looking forward to snow as the opportunities after a new snowfall are bountiful and I've so needed something new to photograph. And all this can be tied quite literally to our little dog as she is the one who is our excuse to go for a w-a-l-k (we spell it when she's around though I'm fairly certain that she recognizes "walk" even when spelled out).
All the photos that follow were taken with our new "A" series Canon. My son and I are trying out both the new path and the camera for the first time.The first & last photos are by my son. The rest as usual, are by me.
Part of Salt Creek--it gets much, much bigger when it rains. :/ and it's already many, many miles long.
The pond from a new angle.
My son took this shot after we were "out of the woods."
We have few trees here that get truly colourful ("here" was once just prairieland with access to some important waterfront) but as my spouse said tonight--we now have a mini-forest preserve right on our doorstep. :) :) :)
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