Thanksgiving Along Piney Creek

If you celebrated American Thanksgiving yesterday,
I hope you had a happy time.

It's one of my favorite holidays,
because it's a time to spend with family and friends,
a time to be grateful for all that is good in life,
and a time to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving feast.

Mule Deer Buck

Aurora Open Space, Colorado

November 22, 2018

We've shared many Thanksgivings over the past thirty years
with our close friends Cheri and Gary, their son Jeff,
and one, two, or three of our nieces and nephews.

The kids have grown and scattered,
so it was just we four celebrating yesterday;
and we went for a family style dinner at Maggianos,
an Italian restaurant that we all enjoy.

So, of course, in addition to turkey and all the trimmings,
Maggianos offered a tempting array of pastas:
a groaning board for sure, and boxes of leftovers to take home.

Hawk High Overhead

Aurora Open Space, Colorado

November 22, 2018

We each had a strategy to shed some of the calories we consumed at this feast.
Gary and Cheri planned a long walk with their Shih Tzu, Sam.
Terry played a fast round of pickleball with friends in the chilly mid-morning air,
and I meandered with my camera along Piney Creek once we returned from Maggianos.

Our Thanksgiving day was cool and cloudy,
not the best circumstance in which to go hunting with my camera.
A cloudy late November day colors the high prairie spaces
with dull browns, grays, and faded yellows.

Icy Pond and Reflections

Aurora Open Space, Colorado

November 22, 2018

Nevertheless, I layered up with warm clothes and headed down to the creek,

grateful for the gifts of unstructured time and peaceful solitude.

At first the riparian area seemed drab and lifeless

with its sere vegetation, splotchy patches of snow,

stripped stands of cottonwoods, and slow waters.

Dead Cottonwood Leaves, Horsetails, and Grasses

Aurora Open Space, Colorado

November 22, 2018

Gone to Seed

Aurora Open Space, Colorado

November 22, 2018

Remnants of Snow

Aurora Open Space, Colorado

November 22, 2018

Stripped Cottonwoods

Aurora Open Space, Colorado

November 22, 2018

A Small Pool Along Piney Creek

Aurora Open Space, Colorado

November 22, 2018

But as I jumped the creek and wandered from the path,

I heard the soft twitters of birds in the cottonwoods
and spotted big ears in bleached gold thickets.

Birds Among Cottonwood Branches

Aurora Open Space, Colorado

November 22, 2018

A Mule Deer Buck and Doe

Aurora Open Space, Colorado

November 22, 2018

It is a joy to lean against a corrugated cottonwood, close my eyes,
and hear whispered conversations among the birds gathered in its branches;
then to open them and see muleys motionless in the underbrush,
their outsized ears swiveled toward me, their dark eyes fixed on me.

Although the world around me has faded to muted colors,
it is vibrant with rich textures:
sawtoothed leaves, layered or fluffy bullrushes,
billowing rabbitbrush, and pocked skims of ice on smooth water.

Ridged Cottonwood Trunks

Aurora Open Space, Colorado

November 22, 2018

Cottonwoods in a Puddle

Aurora Open Space, Colorado

November 22, 2018

Weathered Bullrushes

Aurora Open Space, Colorado

November 22, 2018

Billowing Rabbitbrush

Aurora Open Space, Colorado

November 22, 2018

A Skim of Pocked Ice

Aurora Open Space, Colorado

November 22, 2018

Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I see more than thick limbs,

withered leaves, slender branches, and winter buds against a steely sky;

I catch a scamper of fur racing along dark, heavy highways:
an energetic squirrel patrolling its territory and adding food to its caches.

A Speedy Fox Squirrel

Aurora Open Space, Colorado

November 22, 2018

As I ramble throughout the long, narrow open space along Piney Creek,
the sun lowers beneath the cover of cloud,
burnishing small shrubs and washing the landscape with gold and ruddy tones.

Lowering Sun

Aurora Open Space, Colorado

November 22, 2018

Sun-Silvered Shrubs

Aurora Open Space, Colorado

November 22, 2018

Magical Light Brightens the Landscape

Aurora Open Space, Colorado

November 22, 2018

Following a tip from a fellow walker,
I round a corner and find what I have been seeking:
a herd of deer browsing among dry grasses, brushes, and milkweed.