Saturday in the fall

Walking on a Saturday morning, out early. The temperature is in the lower 40’s, the sun is shining – the air is crisp and it smells like autumn, save of course the smell of burning leaves. I do miss that!




The sounds I hear are rakes scraping against the concrete as the homeowners get their leaves out to the curb; I hear a cheer erupting from the stadium at Nazareth – Saturday morning means frosh, soph or junior varsity – must have been a touchdown or a great interception. The cheer goes on for a while. The wind is blowing slightly, nothing like this past week. Neighbors are out picking up branches and twigs that blew down from the trees.



Taking a walk in the forest preserve, entering the Salt Creek trail with my dog – amazingly all the sounds of the neighborhood, the traffic are all gone. It is so quiet and peaceful right when you reach the bridge. You can hear the water rushing under the bridge, hear the birds, the ducks splashing. We walked a bit into the woods, my dog stopping every second to sniff some new exciting smell. He gets burs caught in his fur, but the trip is worth it.



As we are heading back, my dog stops in his tracks: there not 50 feet in front of us, is a big buck. He stares, we stare, Mitch doesn’t know what to make of this huge – what is it? he thought – it’s not a squirrel, his favorite prey, must be a dog – the buck seemed to bow his head slightly, then walk softly through the leaves and the brush onto his destination.



As we headed back into the neighborhood, there were two forest preserve employees pulling up in the truck. I mentioned that we had just seen a buck.



“Yeah, that is the eight-pointer – we just saw him on 31st.”



The sights, the sounds, the smells of autumn in La Grange Park.