Site Journal #3

OCT 10 2025

The soft gray blanket hid the sun, but the air was mild enough for comfort. A winding pathway went beside the water where my friends and I walked, and our talk went forth into the low notes of the sighing wind.

The park was full of life—a man skated by on roller skates. Runners sprinting for a bridal shower passed. The mothers of dogs called out, and their voices echoed, and the barking of dogs rang out over the vast, quiet spaces.

On the opposite side of the lake, the distant mountains were shrouded with a veil of haze, soft and in silhouette. The dark clouds that threatened to shut out the light instead brought forth the color of autumn in a striking manner. Bright yellows, oranges, and browns contrasted courageously against the silvery gleam of the water. Leaves fell like slow rain, making themselves comfortable on the pathway but straggling out on the lake leisurely. The trees were caught between the two seasons. Their branches displayed both the bloom of life and the loss of life.

This was the kind of silence and deep beauty that comes only when attention is given and the slow, deliberate look is taken.

We stopped where a crooked tree leaned low over the water. Two of my friends sat under the tree. Their bright smiles were faintly reflected in the slow sound waves of moving water, continually resounding in rhythm towards the shore.

A little way from the tree, a sculpture of rust stood in a spot which was green but blotched here and there. It was not the kind of sculpture that gives beauty in the usual and unqualified way, but its odd, almost irregular appearance, which was jarring to some, was entirely suited to the silence and stillness of the park. I thought beauty existed in the most minor things. The wild flower that stood alone amid the reed grass possessed an atmosphere and a history of its own.

It is sweet to absorb such a setting as this. On the gray days, a subtle, distinct beauty always emerges from the gloom. It reminds one of the fact that sunlight does not require sunlight. A profound amount of the feeling of the present, with perhaps the stillness of those antennae that go forth to the farther consciousness, illuminates the world equally brightly.

City of Denver

The tree at the front of the scene, with its curved branches sweeping over the footpath, still has some brilliant yellow-gold leaves upon it. These brilliant leaves contrast brilliantly with the color of the subdued gray-white sky. Some dry, brown leaves form a grand line down the center of the concrete, giving a fine contrast with the yellow above as though a slow rain has just finished.

Along the water's edge and across the lake the fall foliage is a brilliant band of color A greyness and dreariness rain over the scene but the colors are brighter, Some bright yellow and rich orange trees make a warm flash of color. Mixed with these are darker reds and burgundies, and the evergreens, which give a strong background of rich green. This line of brightly colored trees is grandly reflects the whole scene to be in its autumn beauty.

Haddi & John

The Path Under the Cottonwood

Aster Flowers

Looking at the aster flowers quietly growing among the grass, I thought of Linda Hogan's Walking which tells how every little part of nature, as plants, animals and soil are parts of one world. The aster flowers, their tiny white flowers with a gold center, reminded me of the story of the sunflower which grows under difficult situations so to speak. Like the sunflower these aster flowers show how quietly nature is able to endure, how life goes on growing and forming beauty in places that are often neglected.

In the reading of Hogan's book one learns that there is a whole ecosystem about us which exists whether or not we see it. The aster flowers attract bees, rest among the tall grasses and grow so that they become parts of a larger living system which sustains the insects, birds and the soil itself. This shows much of the thought of Hogan, that the act of walking in nature is more than the mere moving about of something in space, it is a recognition of relationship. Everything is dependent on everything else, just as that blade of grass or flower contributes to the sustaining of life about it.

In apprciaiting the aster flowers I was reminded to connect with the little, quiet lives that share the world with us. Just as Hogan's sunflower was significant of perseverance and harmony with the earth, these aster flowers aid me to realise that each little plant is important, no matter how small, in conserving a proper balance in the ecology.