"The park has changed alongside me. When I first arrived, the entrance opened onto a flat grass lawn with an unobstructed view. Then the city council planted trees and installed a statue. Those saplings are 15 years old now, their green canopies arching over the tarred trail to welcome me. I resisted them at first, mourning that open vista. But time has a way of softening resistance into appreciation."
"At night, I've learned to dodge the sprinklers; some spray directly onto the path. I watch the water arc through the darkness with the same curiosity I might bring to a fountain show, mesmerized by the force and geometry of it. The park's wildlife keeps me company. Deer appear occasionally on my night walks, ghostly and still. Seagulls become silhouettes against the dimming sky. In the mornings, bluebirds gather in noisy flocks, swooping down from branches"
Hillcrest Park serves as a half-mile loop used regularly for twenty-five years, providing walks in mornings, afternoons, evenings and weekends. The park’s landscape shifted from an open grass lawn to a tree-lined trail with a statue as saplings matured into an arching canopy. Evening light transforms leaves; sprinklers sometimes spray the path and cast mesmerizing arcs of water. Wildlife appears across visits: deer at night, seagulls at dusk, and noisy bluebirds that swoop to puddles in the morning and scatter as a walker approaches. Repeated visits yield comfort, curiosity, and joy.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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