Neighborhood Exploring

Sometimes beauty is found in unexpected places. I found a magical place today, in my own neighborhood. Small creek, ferns, huge white oaks and tulip poplar trees. I stopped in reverence before a white oak with a large wound in its lower trunk, oval shaped like a shrine or a door to another world. That such a place could exist in such an urban place is a miracle. That I didn’t come back here after first walking past it on New Year’s Day, a crime. I drive to local trails to walk and ignore something like this right in my own backyard. I wish I had at least come by a few weeks ago when the tulip poplars were in bloom. They must have been magnificent.

I wanted to possess it, envied the people whose houses overlooked it. Then I realized that I don’t have to own it to appreciate it, to love it with all my heart. I would have gone exploring then, but for fear of trespassing. Although no one person can truly own such beauty. This land, these trees, the birds and chipmunks belong only to themselves.

I looked up the ownership of the property when I got home, intending to ask the owner’s permission to explore the creek, and maybe remove some invasive plants I saw growing there, Mahonia and English ivy among them. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the land was owned by the city. So, since it isn’t posted, I should be able to walk there and explore. The property measures just over an acre, a forest in miniature. I’m happy that I live in a city that values greenspace and has preserved this tiny treasure.

Next time I go by, I’m going to rip up some English ivy growing up the trees on the curbside. And I’m going to further explore my neighborhood in case there are more unexpected treasures to find.