A walk in the walking park

Last Saturday we arrived in Lenoir around lunchtime.

The girls were already primed to go "tew the park" as Allissa put it.

She provided additional commentary involving a colony of ducks that reside there.

I asked her if we should take some bread to feed the ducks.

"You are not allowed to feed them," she told me.

And we weren't. There were signs to that effect.

Killjoys abound.

So after a spot of refreshment we set off -- breadless -- for the Broyhill Walking Park.

The elevation in Lenoir and cooler nights have conspired once again to make the leaf color almost painfully beautiful.

Allissa at once found an opportunity to run, one of her favorite activities.

I caught her in mid-air! No, she is not about to audition for the River Dance. Although I suspect she could teach the troupe a thing or two about energy and abandon.

The ducks didn't appear hungry but they were shivering. Cold duck!

They floated contentedly in the lake's many reflected colors.

Carnival-hued mums decorated the walking path.

Allissa ran back and forth between Audrey and me.

Each time she reached me, she hollered my name and took my hand.

Then she ran back to Audrey, hollering her name.

Melanie was never far behind.

The scenery at the walking park is both stark and lush, serene but ominous with deep-wooded mystery and the hint of coming winter with its early darkness.

A purple pansy beguiled me with its wise but innocent stare. Pansies always remind me of my sister, whose favorite flower they are.

Brighter, flashier flowers drank the sun as though it existed only to illuminate their already-flaming petals.

Melanie did her share of galloping into Audrey's waiting arms, windmilling it the length of the red-and-green pagoda.

A bit later Allissa willingly posed by a tree and told me an elaborate story about feeding deer up in Boone a few weeks ago.

Melanie enjoyed the path and the leaves and the fresh air.

She's the outdoorsy type.

You know me, always training the lens on something pretty.

Toward the end of our walk, Allissa exclaimed at the tree, how gold.

Reminding me of Nothing Gold Can Stay, one of the most spellbinding poems in the English language, all the more so for its breathtaking simplicity:

Nature's first green is gold

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

Those lines were written by American poet Robert Frost (1874-1963), who once said he could sum up everything he had learned about life in three words: "It goes on."

As for me, I was still captivated by the egregious riot of reds.

In the end, Allissa couldn't decide between red and gold either.

She was still mulling it over in the car on the way home.

My Melanie had gone wherever it is she goes in her sweet little heart and mind, to mull whatever it is she mulls.

Someday I hope and pray she can tell me a story about choosing between a yellow flower and a red berry, or feeding deer up in Boone.

And so we returned to the warm house and filled it with the smell of cornbread and shepherd's pie.

And we laughed and ate and talked and enjoyed one another's company.

And now I am dreadful sick with a cold.

And that is all.

Comments

[Audrey]

OH my! This is really gorgeous. Perfectly summed up our day. And the pictures!! Seriously, send those in somewhere with an article. Allissa: "how gold".. so simple. I love it.

[Mari]

Jennifer!!! I absolutely love this post! These photos have to be some of your best. (I love the stairs and the leaves in the water) Put it together with your wonderful writing and the word pictures of Allissa and Melanie and its "pure gold" in a post!

[Sue the Hobbit]

I have a cold too and my right ear has been plugged since the last flight descended to earth. And then I caught A and E's stomach bug, which they neglected to tell me about.
Funny that we would post almost identical pictures. Thanks for the tips, I'm trying to think outside of my usual symmetrical box!
Your walk looks lovely.

[irene]

How absolutely lovely, I know you had a wonderful time, and now your body needs to rest. Get better soon.

[Donna M.]

What a lovely walk filled with energy and discovery! Your photos captured the essence so well. The puddle of leaves made me tear up a bit. the photos of the girls melt made heart melt. You may have gotten cold cooties, but it was so worth it!