Exploring Siskiyou With Auggie and Granny

                

 

Siskiyou:

A brownfield... a dump.

Capped and left for decades

Composting human detritus.

Here lie the artifacts of mid 20^th Century life

The underbelly now of visionaries’ dreams.

It’s in transition... a muddy construction zone.

Broken bits of glass appear amidst the weeds,

A day-glow plastic bit and a mud caked fork

Catch my attention.

But for Auggie and me, this is our happy place.

When we arrive, after the workers have gone,

After his school day is done,

He explodes across the muddy caterpillar tread grooves

And runs "with no hands!"

Right up the steep sides of the surcharge

For a bird’s eye view of the land.

I follow, trying my best to keep up.

We notice what’s in front of us...the temple’s new roof

The clouds bunching and rearranging themselves

The leafing out of the maple trees

And the crows, killdeer, and hawks

Busy in spring rituals,

This is our playground, our own nature preserve,

And once we’ve had a good overview,

Auggie races up and down the surcharge a few times

To test how fast he can do it without falling.

I clap. He smiles, heaves a few rocks

and then asks me to challenge him

Each week it’s a whole new course....

Running, climbing, leaping, and exploring.

*surcharge: It is quite common for designers of embankments on soft ground to specify surcharge preloading to 

compensate or eliminate post-construction settlements.

We build with the mud, plant trees in the soil

And then our scavenger hunt begins...

Old things polk out of the ground,  amber water  trickles

From the ravine’s steep bank

A crow collects nesting material

Killdeer scold us

And run wildly across emerging weeds as Auggie stalks them,

Mallard ducks waddle aimlessly,

And we pause.

We are nature detectives, so we take note

Of iridescent feathers and tawny brown camouflage.

Auggie notices things I miss,

And we share our observations

... a happy team filled with curiosity and fun.

We search for frog eggs in the gelatinous mass

On the fairy pond

And notice sword fern fiddleheads unfurling.

Footprints in the mud tell us raccoons, coyotes, deer,

And various bird species have visited here too.

Beyond the pond runs a cement ditch

Encroached by thorny Hawthorn branches

And blackberry vines

Another challenge for my bare legged boy!

Next we climb out of the ravine

And notice the temple’s latest additions,

A new garden pathway,

Grasses and seedling trees added to the landscape

And finally, as the sun slips to the western horizon,

We head back to town

Where life is different

But also full of wonder

In the eyes of an eight year old.

Slap Line Found on Our Neighborhood Walk

When traveling with Auggie,

I can't stop smiling.