19 April 2004

Enjoying the promise of another spring

Spring is a week old, but the warm weather is still hiding out in some other part of the world. The sunshine seems to be staying away, too.

The willow trees are ready to pop out in leaf. Spring flowers are in bloom everywhere. The red tulips, hyacinths and daffodils that I planted last fall in a big clay pot are giving out a wonderful smell when I come in the back door.

Holly, the old Irish Setter who lives behind us, has become my constant companion. Her owners just bought a house in Florida and they've been gone for two months. Every day she and I take a walk, either down Tinker's Lane or up to the school to get Cat at 3:15.

Tinker's Lane actually begins just across the street from our house. As soon as we walk down the lane's steep hill past the apple orchard, I unhook the lead so that Holly can begin to nose around.

On the weekend Tinker's Lane is a busy, narrow path of walkers and dogs. This weekend there were mostly lurchers and whippets (they all look like large, skinny greyhounds) or little white West Highland Terriers. Holly doesn't like to see other dogs because until I started taking her for walks she'd never been around them. She used to sit down and wait for the dogs to pass. The first time I took her walking she refused to get back up. For the next 20 minutes it felt like I was trying to persuade a two-ton elephant to stand up.

After we walk along the stream, and past where the old flour mill used to be, we come to Toppesfield Bridge. This ancient brick bridge leads back into Hadleigh.

On the other side of the bridge, we can choose to turn left so that we can take the lane up the hill. By going this way we can climb high above the town and look down on the old church, the deanery and the cemetery. Along the way there is a World War II bunker to explore.

Unless I have a lot of time for walking, I usually go to the right at the bridge, which allows us to cross the road. This way takes us down into the park where I can walk along the stream. Holly loves to wade into the swampy bog or stick her front feet into the water for a drink. Along the way there are four signets (young swans) and their parents. The swans are just beginning to get their white feathers, so it is always a joy to see how they are changing. Holly never bothers the birds.

This week I took a totally different route since Cat and her friend Harriet wanted to ride their bikes. We walked up past the school, and on up the hill to the old railroad-walking path. More than 100 years ago, Hadleigh had train service. I have no idea why it stopped. In some moment of forward thinking, the town planners closed the station and made it the centerpiece of several three-story brick houses that share common walls.

The railroad tracks are long gone. The blacktopped railway path weaves past the old station and gradually brings us to the top of a hill that looks back over the south end of Hadleigh. We can look down into gardens and second-story windows.

Farther down the path, off in the distance, there are ancient Tudor-style (wooden framed buildings with white stucco in between) houses with modern tennis courts. At the very top of the hill, I can see the giant new horse stables of the riding school.

The songbirds are busy, too. Little orange and brown wrens and nuthatches zip around through the tall trees that are just ready to burst out in leaf.

Cat and Harriet enjoyed racing out of sight and then racing back. As I watched them disappear I was thinking of all the women in this world who don't live where it is safe enough for their kids to ride bikes out of sight. Maybe it was spring washing over me, or just my own feeling of appreciation, but I'm really grateful for these moments with Holly, the kids, and the promise of another spring.