I Collect Green Places ...
|
A redbud tree in flower, soon to leaf out. Looking across Meadow Lake at the Morton Arboretum in early May. |
| Come here in spring and be created anew. |  |
 |
At the end of a very long esplanade bordered by old conifers, these four huge columns. |
| I haven't
associated any music with this page, to make a point. In the very near future, one of the rarest of luxuries will be the escape from noise and the experience of the very faint sounds of nature. Even here, distant highway and suburban clatter carries and intrudes as a low murmur, enough to cover the woodland creatures and rustles unless you concentrate. But come during the work week when most are away, walk into the woods a little, and listen carefully. With luck, you will hear the birds, and maybe more. There is an indigo bunting there and he will sing to you all summer long. |
 |
 |
I've walked all the paths and know all the seasons on them. I've shared the walks with birders, botanists and just plain kindred spirits that I encountered there. I allowed to one such hiker about having collected the arboretum. "Or did it collect you?" she countered. |
| I am happy to have shared the Morton Arboretum with you. There are several other local green places in my collection, all within easy reach. Among them are the Volo Bog, Kline Creek Farm, Cantigny, the | Chicago Botanic Garden, Lincoln Marsh, and Crabtree Nature Preserve. Naturally, I recommend that you find and celebrate those near you. Perhaps start a collection. |