On a clear, cold Christmas morning, I hiked west from Pingree Rd. on the paved Meijer Heartland
Trail through a corridor of leafless trees. The dark asphalt
surface provided an ideal backdrop for Mother Nature to display her images and tell her seasonal story. Patches of fallen leaves, along with a dusting of snow on this slate-colored
aisle through the woods, spoke of the onset of winter. Nature’s portraits included leaves in various stages of decay, void of chlorophyll, painted on a smooth, black canvas, including
Bur Oak,
Red Oak and
Elm, each showing their distinctive margins and venation. Further ahead on the surface of tar, the artist had created a
collage of dry and brittle maple leaves sprinkled with snow. More tales from the tar included tracks of
opossum and
squirrel on a white overlay. While continuing to walk west, I glanced far ahead to see a sudden flash of a white tail from a
whitetail crossing this man-made strip of bituminous pitch and gravel. Other images included posing leaves of
Aspen and
Cottonwood as well as
needles of Scotch pine. From this blacktop surface here on planet earth, I glanced skyward through bare branches to observe the
moon, 240,000 miles away and remember the amazing photo of our
planet taken 50 years ago today from the Apollo 8 spacecraft as it orbited the moon. At
Bliss Rd., I turned around and headed east as the rising sun began to shed its light on the straight path before me where trains once traveled. Continuing to walk the trail of tar, I watched in awe as
sunbeams began to shimmer through the leafless brush as the Christmas morning star colored the southeastern
horizon and highlighted a tangle of
branches. Finally, I returned to the warmth of the
car for my travel back home to celebrate the holiday with family and friends.
No colored lights
On pines of green
No shiny tinsel
On spruce are seen
No carol music
Disturbs the peace
Only the wind
Call of the geese
No angels on high
No child is born
Nature awakes
On Christmas morn
D. DeGraaf
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