Sauntering through summer

12 July, 2019 
Dear friend,
   Summer seemed to take its time coming to Michigan but is now well and truly arrived. Since sidewalks around my neighborhood are treacherously uneven, I load my walker and go to a nearby, a couple miles away. It is a delight to walk amid flora and fauna. There are occasionally goldfinches to be glimpsed, showing brightly contrasted to a bobbing head of thistle. Bunnies of varying size sit  unblinkingly still, or scamper down the path, like advance scouts. One morning, a rabbit scurried on the north side of the trail, as a small patch of red caught my right eye. At first, I mistook the brilliant glimpse for a male cardinal. Closing the distance between myself and what had caught my eye, I discerned the red came from sun shining through a small rabbit's thin ears.
   On two consecutive days, I viewed deer, in about the same area. One morning, a doe and fawn bounded across, traversing south to north. Next morning, I had just made my turnaround, when a head poked out of some shrubbery on north side of the path. My progress was observed for maybe as much as a full minute. Apparently I was not deemed threatening and the doe stepped out, two fawns in her wake. It seems late in the season for such "hatchlings." One can only hope there will be none born as late as September or October; lest they freeze.
   Moths, butterflies and wildflowers - both familiar and unfamiliar, add bountiful color, making exercise more enjoyable. Some of the abounding fauna is tiny, but not quite microscopic. There are biting flies, of course, and itty-bitty bugs, smaller than a match head. My stroll is often accompanied by a chorus of frogs, which inhabit a marshy pond, near west end of the section I walk. This particular stretch of blacktop is used by several people, whose ages span decades. One morning, I saw saw a young woman on roller-blades, pushing a stroller, and a couple bicyclists, who were [likely] in their seventies. I have received encouraging kudos and dare to hope my example may lead younger folks to hold me up to their parents. *You can do it; why, there's a lady out there every day, using a walker!* I know some people are embarrassed about looking "old." Age is no cause for shame - despite what a youth-obsessed culture may say. So, rock on with your bad self.
   Dew-washed raspberries and mulberries are a treat; sadly, my footing is no longer secure enough to go more than a few steps off the trail, in search of fruit. Some days, the wind is just right and floral fragrances waft toward me, delighting olfactory sensors. Sure, every now and then, one gets a whiff of something dead and detects a circling buzzard overhead: that's what nature is all about.
   As it is wont to do, reality intrudes on this idyll - but it doesn't disrupt me walk too often. In fact, in the seven weeks or so I've been using the trail, only one ambulance has been seen. There are definite advantages to living in a semi-rural hamlet. (I won't say that too loudly; some folks have delusions of grandeur. wink wink)
   The peaceful pace of retirement, has prompted me to share some of what I see, via illustrated envelopes. Recently, one was sent to my only canine correspondent. Andy is so special, I have a packet of stamps used for his letters: Scooby Doo.
 
Hope this brief missive, finds you well.
Yours truly,
Jo Ann