Written September the 9th, 2015 with the accompanying photos taken along the way.
Walking in the woods today I remembered back in the 1950s when my grandfather’s cousin Charles from Philadelphia would come to visit. It was a happy time because he always brought a cheesecake. Charles had a girlfriend, his former secretary, Fern. Before we could get the cheesecake out of the car, we had to get Fern out first. She always refused to move, convinced as soon as she set foot on the pebble driveway, a bear would come bounding out of the woods and carry her off.
We did in fact live in the South Mountain along a meandering road with the closest neighbor two miles away. Fern was indeed surrounded by a thick green woods everywhere she looked, but in those days, the closest bear was probably at the Philadelphia Zoo ninety miles away much closer to her there than it was here now.
It took some coaxing and convincing to get Fern to leave the car with Charles on one side of her and my father on the other quickly making their way onto the porch and into the house with my mother walking backward in front telling Fern that she was almost there, and all of us kids silently following and praying for that cheesecake to make it inside. Fern is a good example of someone getting silly fearing what they do not know.
I had a fear of swimming in deep water alone, but I kept swimming in deep water until I wasn’t afraid anymore. I liked to swim which helped a lot, and after a while, if the pond monster doesn’t come up and swallow you, chances are it won’t. I am lucky to walk in a woods I know. I have nothing to be afraid of, but one has to be careful of course. Somewhere out there there is a copperhead sunning itself, the same color as the fallen leaves around it, exciting and beautiful when you spot it, but a mad man with a chain saw, that I don’t even think about. Today you can see if you look at my shoes some hitchhikers came home from the walk.
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