Music: OSI - Free
Sunday was warm and sunny from the start, but I was going nowhere fast. Finally, shortly after 1:00, I emerged from the blue room, threw open all of the shades, and stumbled out the front door.
Irregular melting has left monorails in some spots and muddy patches in others. I head out with the classic long-sleeve/short-sleeve t-shirt combo, but returned to grab the green fleece. After feeling cold so often of late, I welcome the opportunity to be a little too warm. I pace past the mailboxes, up Alder, and left onto Willow. It's remarkable how high a baby hill, nearly imperceptible in a car, can feel when you're on foot.
There's no doubt about this weather, so quite a few people are out and about, a few even carrying sports equipment. I spend most of the 0.75ish-mile Willow Street slowly gaining on a pair of woman in typical sweatshirts and tights, just frumpy enough to avoid the obvious yuppie pigeonhole. As I get close, I debated my options. Stay quiet and risk surprise or breath unnaturally loudly? Keep up the pace and nearly run them down or walk awkwardly slowly to stay back? I wonder about gender roles, sexual predators, and how scariness and skinniness interact before taking the first convenient opportunity to pass on the left.
Here's the route:
When you think about it, the Old Mill/Agamenticus Estates region has an awful lot of people living in a small area. It's no surprise that there are small crowds at the new "The Barn" teen center on the corner of Willow and Agamenticus and at the convenience store/"game center" across the street. After a few safe steps on the wide shoulders of Agamenticus Rd., I bear right past the Dead End sign onto an unmarked dirt road--Crooker Lane under the blackout above.
The road runs along the edge of a cemetery for a while, and then next to a field. For a brief stretch, there are clearings on both the left and right. Maybe a quarter mile in, I start to bear down on a lone house, and with a number of vehicles parked out front, it earns a "vaguely threatening." I swing right into a gully, ascend the tiny headwall, hop a chain-link fence, and walk back in the direction I came.
Soon, I'm confronted by a scattered front of recently-placed gravestones--the far end of the cemetery. Even though I'm headed for cremation, it's nice to see that there's some room for expansion. I turn down a central artery of sorts, past headstones dating back into the 19th century, a couple of mini-Washington Monuments, and even a tiny crypt. I think about what I'd do if somebody called me an intruder and decide that the dead probably like getting to observe a passing pedestrian from time to time.
Back on Willow, I'm plenty warm even after removing the fleece. And I'm real glad that it's all but Spring.
