Coleman Farm

I packed all my stuff up last night to take with me so that I could head out to Coleman Farm after work today. Then, mid-morning I started feeling guilty - I knew I had to work on the extra project I'll be working on all winter, a weekly newsletter, before I could pick Sam up at daycare - and wondered if I should change my plans to give myself more work time. Ryan told me to go anyway, saying, isn't that why you have this flexible schedule in the first place? Well, I guess when you put it that way.... So, a little after noon, I hit the trails at Bowdoin, out through the Commons, and headed toward Coleman Farm. The sky was clearing and the woods had that wonderful fall smell about them - sort of like you just jumped in a pile of freshly fallen leaves - ahhh... Love that. The blueberry bush leaves had turned a rich red in the pitch pine forest, and the trail was covered with a thin layer of golden pine needles and oak leaves.

Out in Pennelville, the sky was blue and the clouds were fluffy and white over the green fields. Although the most colorful maples had already lost their leaves, it was still lovely out there, looking across the swaying grasses to the treeline beyond. As I ran down the road, I did a double-take and went back to what I was sure wasn't just a regular leaf on the pavement. Sure enough, it was a Praying Mantis, in its "prayer" pose, in the middle of the left side of the road. It's country out there, but not that country and I was sure she'd get squished if I left her as is. I picked her up on a leaf, but she was soon crawling over and around my hand and arm. I put her down on the grass at the edge of the field. Don't know if that's where she was headed, but it had to be better than under a car tire, right? With the Praying Mantis rescue complete, I continued on and turned onto the wide old road that heads out through the Coleman Farm fields to the ocean. What a wonderful place to be on a warm fall day!

I got back to the car happy with my 7.25 miles, and ready to once again sit down at the computer. Nothing like a nice run in the middle of the day to make me smile!