Today was the final day of summer class at the community college. For the past six weeks I've been studying Introductory Psychology, and two weeks from today I'll be starting Statistics. The purpose of these classes is to gather prerequisites necessary to become an exercise physiologist. A long road remains ahead, but so far the first stage has come off well.
One of the things I enjoy most about studying at the community college is the walk I take to get there. Since most of the parking-lots at the college require a parking pass, and since I don't like driving on the road leading to them, I early on elected just to go to a nearby park and walk the rest of the way. This has so far proved a good choice.
Walking through the park is usually a great experience. The path I typically follow begins along a narrow boulevard lined with Sycamore trees. Emerging from their shade, a wide field of soybeans appear off to the right. Three years ago this field was occupied by corn, so whoever farms it must rotate his or her crops.
Interestingly, every once in a while one can pick out a stalk of corn emerging from the sea of soybeans. From a distance, they remind me of a brief story about my hair. Back in college, I use to cut my hair to 3/8" before every competition. Since we competed almost every weekend, I had a lot of hair cuts. One may think that with so much practice I would have acquired some skill at cutting hair, but I didn't, and frequently missed a hair or two. These proved quite noticeable to my teammates, and they took to calling them "Centafonts" in my honor. In any case, that was the first thing which came to mind when I saw a cornstalk in the middle of a field of soybeans.
As is true in many forests, there are a lot of trees in the park. My favorite is probably the Sassafras tree, because like people their leaves are so unique. They're the ones that sometimes look like mittens, and turn a red-orange color in the Autumn not unlike the shade of dusk. There are several along the path I walk, and if there's a wind their leaves seem to wave at me as I pass. Sometimes I even wave back.
At about 3/4 of the way to school, there's a long, narrow bridge over a wide stream. Coming down from the tree-clad heights in the morning, it's not uncommon to see a thousand-thousand little sparkles upon the flowing water. Often this flurry of reflection is accompanied by rattling waves of cicada music, which seem to give voice to the sparkles. I wonder if the moon makes a similar impression on the water, and if so whether the resulting sparkles at night look like stars.
The final leg to school requires traversing a wide meadow under an even wider sky. I've found at least six different kinds of wild-flowers along this path, which might make a nice arrangement if I was so inclined. Sometimes giant black birds called Turkey Vultures chill in this meadow, while at other times it seems like a cafeteria for deer. While walking today I found a Gold Finch scurrying along, looking for seeds perhaps. I asked if he (with bright canary feathers, he was certainly a he) wanted to take my final exam, but alas no dice.
Following the meadow the path climbs toward a parking lot, where at the corner stands a decently-sized Tulip Poplar. From there, it is not far to class.
So that is a brief description of my walk to class. It's about 2 miles each way, and when I'm not in a hurry is an enjoyable little trek. I'm looking forward to seeing the place when Autumn comes.
Happy Thursday, friends :)
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