LEAVE IT OPEN
It was on a golf course that I first learned to appreciate nature, artificial and manicured though it was; it had open spaces and trees around the fairways and greens. Four decades later I no longer played golf, but used the courses differently.
Let me apologize for our surplus of snow this winter. I must have brought it on by wishing so hard for the snows that I remembered from childhood, until a few years ago; snows that stayed on the ground for the season. For several recent years, wet snows covered for a few days and melted. Not enough for cross-country, my favorite form of exercise. Out on the expanses of our golf courses and parks, with trails through the woods along narrow creeks, gliding smoothly along, breathing clean fresh air, away from traffic odors and mechanical noises. It was exhilarating and invigorating. Now that my wish came true and there has been plenty of snow, I’m unsteady on my feet, and my skiing friends have moved away. My courage has left me to go alone.
However I can still enjoy the undeveloped wooded area behind our house. I have seen spectacular sunrise color displays through the bare trees, and a large variety of birds, including an occasional bald eagle high in the oaks. I have seen squirrels, deer, ground hogs, fox and raccoons leaving intriguing tracks in the snow. Some of the animals are refugees from former habitats now covered with houses, buildings, and cemented parking lots.
I believe in preserving natural areas and keeping some open spaces around buildings and houses, and not paving over every inch of ground.
I miss seeing the cornfields along 53rd street, and I miss the blue flowering chicory and white Queen Anne’s lace off Kimberly Road on my way to a store. I need daily reminders of the natural world…”The beauty and mystery of creation-of the essential joy that is life.” (Quote from “Snow” by Orhan Pamuk)
Mary Rose Hawkinson
