I started out early this morning with a run in the adjacent conservation area, which was slightly treacherous, due to slick piles of damp leaves on steep downward portions of the trail, and more than slightly spectacular, due to the luminous quality of the red and gold leaves in the early morning sun. I like to start the trail at the top of the bluff, as starting at the bottom tends to turn my novice runners legs into quivering knots, especially on cold mornings. This means I warm up with a brisk walk along the graveled shoulder of a busy street, which this morning was full of oddities: a dead skunk (fortunately not as aromatic as it could have been), several flat squirrels, and heaps of osage oranges, which I may go back and collect for the large bowl on our dining table that currently holds a motley mix of pomegranates and gourds.

Although the temperature had risen above freezing by the time I headed out, the grass on the wooded part of the trail was still thick with frost. As I rounded a bend in the trail, my left foot slipped slightly on a patch of leaves and I snapped a twig. I heard hooves from the bluff above me. I looked up to see a herd of at least eight white-tailed deer staring down at me, motionless. I froze too, and we all stared at each other until a hawk�s cry woke me from my trance and I continued down the hill as the deer clattered off in the other direction.

By the time I got to the prairie portion of the trail, the grass was not only frost-free, but dry and sweet-smelling. I headed down to the river and stopped to watch the steam rising off the water. I took a short walk along the narrow strip of sand along the river�s edge and noted the tracks of several deer, many raccoons and a lone coyote, whom I was just as happy not to have run into. On the way home I found a hole in the fence that separates one of the trails in my own neighborhood from the preserve and slipped through it, back to civilization. I got slightly turned around as I tried a new trail that ended up placing me in someone�s fantastic backyard that was edged by a series of ponds and waterfalls trickling down the hill.

The rest of the morning has been rather pedestrian by comparison. Driving cars around AJ�s room. About 150 readings of Harold and the Purple Crayon. Raking up piles of leaves for AJ to jump in while trying to escape the ever-present sound of the Bears game on TV.

0 people said it like they meant it