A Walk in the Park

Yesterday I mentioned that my husband and I 

had explored Bells Mill Park in Chesapeake.

Even though the Park is only minutes 

from a busy part of the city,

walking there made us feel we were miles away in the countryside.

After we passed by the tidal creek, 

one side of the grassy path held a thicket of trees and underbrush,

but the other opened into this wide meadow:

Then we came to a curve in the broad path which was bordered by trees.

There is a sense of anticipation as one approaches a sheltered curve

because what is around the bend is always a mystery.

As we came out of the tree-lined curve, this is what we saw:

More open space, freshly mown. 

The cut grass smelled wonderful. 

There are few things that say summer better than freshly mown grass.

But beyond the fragrance, this sight was a bit of a surprise.

In this part of the Shire, we are "flatlanders."
The land elevation is right at sea level,

and in our experience, the only hills and rises are sand dunes,

 and even those have been leveled. 

But here we found ourselves facing a walk up this gentle incline. 

And it was about here that I decided if we kept on walking, 

we would come right up to the banks of the Elizabeth River.

So we kept walking.

Did we find the River?

Did we meet any creatures?

Tomorrow, we will walk over the rise and see what we shall see.

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