Ohio:Northern: Cuyahoga County:
placed by the (first)Bay(Village)Boxer, aka Warren Remein
placed 12/10/01 in an urban park
Short (20-30 min) :easy
I finished my last day of work before the Christmas holidays. It was
early so I drove to the covered bridge to take a short hike before going
home. The sign on the bridge said built in 1983. It looked more like 1883
except for the traffic signals on the bridge. After parking I walked the
bridle path running with the river. A blue heron was wading along the
bank. It was surprising to see the heron still here almost at Christmas,
but it had been warm up until a week ago. Two pairs of mallards paddled
silently farther down river. The path took me closer to the great blue. I
left the path briefly to see how close I could get. She seemed oblivious,
but at 50' finally squawked a brief protest, flapped into the air and
glided down river.
I turned back to the path and walked about a minute. I was startled by
the very last leaf of the season falling down from above. All the trees
were bare. The leaf was peculiar, glinting green and then silver in the
clear winter sun. Swirling around in a strange slow pattern, it circled a
tree and drifted toward a swale. It finally nestled under a hollow half
piece of sawn log, next to a hollow stump.
I walked the dozen steps down & off the trail to find this last lonely
leaf. I looked carefully under the log to see only bark and sticks. Since
I didn't see any snakes or skunks, I reached in to find a small white
box. Inside was a tiny image of the leaf. I returned the leaf and box to
its cozy hiding place, taking only the image of the leaf and the
beautiful winter day. Sometimes the cruel world impresses into our
memory. The past year was full of searing images. This was a moment of
quiet to wonder again at the miracle of life, the beauty of God's world.
It was a little bit of healing. I invite you to search out the leaf. It
is not a spectacular image. It is just there for you to take a moment and
remember the good things.
PS happy birthday Dan. -
-the bayboxer
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