My Autumn Day

Its the day after holloween, well its actually night time now, and I wanted to write about the day I had today. Its been awhile since I took my dog Jodi for a walk and she was teasing to go, so I got her and myself ready for our walk. It was a cool and breezy day, and the sky was blue and full of interesting and shapely clouds. It was warm and cool at the same time, so we started up the hill on the street by our house, an then went down one of our regular routes. Jodi was so excited, running and frolicking, as she always does, and pulling me along at her Jodi pace, and I was happy that I decided to go out today. Well we were walking toward the river , where the dike begins, one of our favorite places to walk, so I decided we could go that way today. We crossed the street and climbed up the hill to the trail, as soon as we got there I stopped to look around, well I knew I had made the right choice. We began walking and Jodi turned to me as if to say, thanks I love this place. Well its autumn and were on the dike next to the river, I could feel a light wind and the trees were beckoning to me, and saying look at all this wonderful nature. I looked up to the sky, and the clouds and scenery was breathtaking. As I walked, the trees began throwing dancing leaves at me, and I was scooping out to catch them. As we walked down the hill toward the river, I could see a ducks head swimming, as I got closer I could see a whole bunch of them all gathered together in the water. It was an awsome sight, Jodi seen them too, but wasnt really that interested, as she wanted to continue the walk. We stayed there for awhile and I kept saying to myself, darn I wish I had a camera. Several times I said that on this day, oh, and I counted 47 ducks today. Well we started up the hill back to the trail, and some people were walking dogs also. I ask them if they were the ones from the dog shelter., they said yes. Ive seen them walking these poor dogs on this trail before as the shelter is just down the hill at a dead end st. Well Jodi had to put her two cents in as she always does when she sees a dog. Had to keep going. As we proceded I could see through the half bare trees, close to the river, a makeshift blue tarp, with a little camp type site around it. In the summer I am sure it is mostly hidden within the trees and brush that grow abundantly around it, but come autumn the trees begin to undress and expose what would rather stay hidden from view. As i looked closer, I could see what seemed to be an old man sitting on a bucket next to the river, smoking a ciggerette, and looking at the ground before him, we were no more than 30 yards apart, and I could sense something was wrong here. He turned his head toward me and I could see his long white hair and white beard. I felt as though I was tresspassing, and I went on my way with Jodi, with the realization, that this was a homeless man and he had been living here for quite some time. We started back walking, and we climbed back up to the trail, and I began to sit down on the ground, and ponder and reflect on what I had seen so far. I was feeling good about our walk and sad at the same time. I looked all around me, to the sky and the half bare trees that surround the whole area, and I decided to go right back the same way I came. We started down the path again to go back home, and just at that moment the wind kicked up, and the leaves began to fly again, and I felt as though I was being given a great gift. In my short walk this day, I had seen great beauty, awesome weather, wild ducks, a flowing river, a homeless man, and homeless dogs, and I,looked up to the endless sky, and said to myself, I really am a blessed person to beable to see and feel all the different emotions this day has brung. I looked toward the river as I was heading back and I stetched out my arms wide ,looked up and said , Thank You. It was an awesome day. And someday when Im not feeling so lucky, Ill come back to this day, and I'll start down this trail all over again . The End.