Prairie Schooners
“I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house.”
7 Oct 2023 S and D and C and D2 and Fortran and R met at the Teller Farm North trailhead, for a rare Saturday afternoon jaunt along the East Boulder Teller Farm Trail. The sun blazed fierce in a defiantly cloudless azure sky, and the allegedly pleasant temperature was truly pleasant only during a few brief, dappled moments of shade.
Fortran and R were ensconced in parent-powered schooners, sailing the prairie grasslands complete with food, water, shade, and cushions. What a life. Meanwhile, the taller intrepid explorers trudged gallantly through the falling leaves and the knowing smiles of wandering grandmothers who passed in the opposite direction.
Onward to a lake, complete with ripples and reflections. D nearly stepped on a leaf-shaped bug [1]. Some conversations happened about dental floss. A family arrived and posed for portraits.
Not many birds. A spider or two. The aforementioned leaf-shaped bug. Leaves turning gold, leaping headlong into the wind to sail down from their lofty perch amid the airy cottonwood branches, while their still-green friends clung to the stems and sap, knowing that eventually, their turn would come.
But soft! Among our fearless adventurers, no one fell or turned gold or green; perhaps a slight shade of red, thanks to the blazing sun. And all in all… well, you know.
Notes
The internet says it’s a Greater Angle-Wing Katydid, Microcentrum rhombifolium. They make ticking sounds. Cool.