There is something calming about the woods. My greatest childhood moments were walking through the few acres of secondary growth maples, pin oaks and pines adjacent to my parents yard. An area simply known as “The Woods” if you grew up in the near by neighborhood.
Something calms me when I am in the woods. My continuously racing mind slows. My over stimulated senses release and refocus. The changing pattern of the woods limits your vision to your immediate surroundings. The woods makes the business of daily life seems like its miles away.
For an Audubon Christmas Bird count, my son walked through the woods with temperatures below zero. The briskness of the air burned the inside of my nose. The snow turning the brown forest floor into a bright white blanket. Something special about the snow covered woods.
On a Scout Hike, we left the parking area with temperatures in the eighties to enter into an old growth envelope of green. The temperature dropped. Shade is the greatest air conditioner. Climbing a rocky ridge to reach the highest point in the Zaleski State Forest, we could see nothing but trees for miles. It reminded me of the story that in the early 1800s Ohio was a forest from Lake Erie to the Ohio River.
It’s been weeks since my feet felt the uneven earth of the woods. I feel the call of the woods. The sounds of warblers are calling me as they continue their migration from wintering in South America. I can hear the chirps of the male prothonotary warbler establishing a nesting range. I need to get back to the woods.
I must admit I have walked in swamps, mountains, and river basins, but nothing compares to the simple woods adjacent to my parent’s house. I can close my eyes and feel the pitch of pine as we climbed the trees to look out over the neighborhood. I can hear the voices of my brother, my friends Dale and Diane, and the sound of my old dog running through the leaves. There is something special about that simple place we called “The Woods.”
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