The most peaceful moments of my day are usually the 15~20 minutes I spend driving to pick up my daughter at school while the all~too~short broadcast of Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac plays on the radio and fills my car with audible beauty. On this broadcast he highlights great writers of the world and concludes each segment with a poem. The mid~section of this drive for me occurs in the Seattle Arboretum, an absolute treasure of trees in our city. No matter the season, I am always in awe as I drive beneath the enormous tree canopy in this 230 acre wilderness located along the east side of our city and running north to the edge of Lake Washington.
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This year the fall leaves in the PNW have been extraordinary. The winds and rains stayed away long enough for the leaves to have a chance to show off their full range of color, a rare occurrence here.
There are many paths through the acres of grounds, crowded major routes and then many more minor routes one can follow to get lost in the thoughtfully and thickly planted forests. On the day I took these shots, walking with Arabella and Ezemé, the Arboretum was very crowded, everyone was out to see the bold colors before forecasted storms rolled in. So we chose to take “The Road Not Taken”.
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| Ezemé and Arabella on the Arboretum Bridge |
This poem is the first poem that I recall studying and dissecting in grade school {after the study of haiku}. But when I read it tonight, at The Poetry Foundation it presented a completely different meaning than it did when my age was closer to the single digit range. So, I thought I’d use his words tonight, as we walk through the leaves and trees in The Arboretum because I don’t think I could come up with phrases so perfect to pair with this years beautiful display. Yes, I’ll leave the rest of the copy today to Mr. Robert Frost.
The Road Not Taken
~by Robert Frost
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Nothing like walking down those canopy of colourful trees.
Lovely pictures.
Wonders of nature.