Settling into the Woodlands

Given the recent move from the flatlands and summer humidity of Illinois, the landscape and climate of Pennsylvania is absolutely a delight. Everyday, just blocks from my house, I have been taking walking adventures through canopy shaded paths that open onto vast meadows with haybales, down through hilly fields of wildflowers that run along a black asphalt, and cedar chip paths. The system of black gravel and tractor-flattened grasslands is in the process of going from a woodlands preserve to a University Arboradeum. During the forty-five minute loop I have been discovering the different shades of beauty that arise during different times of the day. Early in the morning there is a a glisten of dew and the wildflowers are facing the sun in full bloom. At dusk there is a quiet hush and bright colors are replaced with the subdued whites of the Queen Anne's Lace.Small animals occasionally scurry across the walkways as large hawks soar above in the sky.