A Sunday Walk in the Park

 

 For the past couple of days it has been raining intermittently, which caused some puddles to form on the walking paths in the park. Yesterday during my walk, I observed a dragonfly diving tail end down into one of the puddles to release her eggs.  Even though it rained last night, by this morning’s walk the puddle the dragonfly was laying her eggs into was completely dried up. As I walked further down the path, I came upon a field of milkweed and saw a monarch butterfly among the leaves. The lifecycle of the monarch butterfly depends very heavily on this plant. The monarchs lay their eggs on the milkweed leaves and when the eggs hatch the caterpillars feed on the plant.  Although it was cooler today, there were very few people on the trails probably because it was, as the Irish would describe, a “soft day.”  It’s the type of weather that produces a soft, diffuse lighting which makes all the green vegetation appear to glow. The ferns in particular looked very lush and green, and it made me feel as though I were in another place and time.  When I looked deep into the woods, I could imagine a medieval figure on horseback galloping by. But the reality is that today I saw almost nothing in the woods, neither bird nor mammal.