Ewww. Holmes Run may contain sanitary sewage.
Warning signs are posted throughout the park.
For days, the smell emanating from the stream was noxious. Daily walks are not pleasant. The signs have been up for a while. I think I’ll wait a good long while before I let the dog back in the water.
This isn’t sewage, although it looks pretty nasty. It’s just algae.
A couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of babysitting a niece and nephew. I was a little nervous because I don’t usually spend a chunk of time with them alone. I wondered how I would keep them entertained, and from saying that staying with me was “boring” — the kiss of death for any aunt.
I knew the TV and what few video games we had might do the trick, for an hour or two anyway.
And then I remembered I had to walk the dog at some point in the day. So I saved it for when they arrived. They were so excited to walk the dog, I don’t know why I even stressed. It was another beautiful day for a walk.
They were so excited to be outside, and among the trees, I could hardly keep them from running off. They tossed pebbles into Holmes Run, picked up and examined leaves and branches, and skipped on the trail. We reached the end of Dora Kelley, and walked across the newly built bridge to the Glen Hills Park. They got to play in the playground, while Momo and I watched.
Little nephew enjoyed running through the park, picking up rocks, sticks and leaves.
Twice a year, the Friends of Dora Kelley Nature Park invite neighbors and park visitors to help pick up garbage that’s accumulated along the water, by the rocks, among the trees, on the trail and anywhere in the park.
For the past few years we’ve lived in the neighborhood, we’ve participated a few times. I look forward to these events because I always see people I’ve never seen before. Last year, I saw a group of students from a nearby middle school pitching in. The more people come out, the more awareness we’ll have of the damage litter can do to such a beautiful park.
Some young folks pitching in.
Volunteers picked up everything from cigarette butts, plastic bags, food wrappers, old bicycles and other garbage at last year’s clean-up effort.
The other day there was a guy sitting cross-legged on a big rock in the middle of the stream. He had his eyes closed, his palms up on his knees. He’s meditating, I guessed. There is no more perfect place than among the trees, water, rock.
The perfect spot for meditation, contemplation and relaxation.
I really wanted to take his photo. With his eyes closed, he would never know. But what an intrusion into his private moment, I thought. I paused and looked at him for a sec, and envied his focus and the way he seemed to tune out passersby, including myself.
They just grew too tall too fast…
Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.”
— John Lubbock
Another tree fell in the forest….
Did anyone hear it?
This little dude was way, way off course.
Here’s more info on the Eastern Box Turtle.
Momo found a wayward Eastern Box Turtle on the path.
(*No animal — namely, the turtle — was harmed with the taking of this photo. After Momo barked at it and sniffed it, we left it where we found it.)
This is the guy that gets me outside everyday — in the snow, rain and heat.
We’re just fortunate to have a place to walk that’s safe and gorgeous.
Momo, 6, is an American Staffordshire Terrier who is often mistaken for a Pit Bull Terrier.
Dora Kelley/360 