Fall in Connecticut

My good friend Gavin McGrath, who also maintains a wordpress blog (http://gavinmcgrath.wordpress.com) is a minister in London. About my age, he is a much more focused runner than I. He actually enters events called “Iron Man” competitions. These involve running, bicycle riding and swimming for long distances. Just the name scares me. Let’s just say that I have no desire to participate and leave it at that.

Several months ago he ran a 10K race through the streets of London. He ran to raise funds for a worthy charity. Afterward he wrote a piece about the event in which he waxed philosophical about running through the streets of that venerable city. It truly must be inspiring to be in a race whose course takes you past such buildings as Parliament, Buckingham Palace and St. Paul’s Cathedral. One of these years I would like to join him.

His writing did get me thinking about where I run. I live in western Connecticut – the Litchfield hills. These are the soft woodlands that form some of the foothills to the Appalachian Mountains. They are as inspiring as London – in a different way. 200 years ago, this area was almost all farm land. It was largely devoid of trees because the farmers cut them so that they could plant their crops. New England was a tough area to farm. There were too many rocks, too many trees and too many hills. When it was discovered that the Midwestern part of the country was very fertile and lacked many of these drawbacks, farming was largely abandoned in New England. Much of that which was farmland in the early 1800’s quickly reverted back to woodland – although now, crisscrossed with miles of stone walls. This is the quintessential “New England” area where I live.

Today was an absolutely pristine autumn day – about 60 degrees outside and not a cloud to be found. It is early October and the trees are turning color. Not at their “peak” yet, many are still green and most have not dropped their leaves. You couldn’t ask for a better day for a run. Inspired by Gavin’s writing, I took my camera and did my best to record some of the sights along the four-mile route that I frequently take. A few pictures speak better than my writing.

This small lake is just down the road from our house. Years ago it was a reservoir.

About a mile or so from our house, this is one of the prettiest barns around.

A fall harvest

An unfortunately common sight along some country roads. A memorial to a car accident victim.

The end of a run – our house is at the end of this road.

So that’s a quick view of some of the sights along a route that I typically run. Beautiful in the fall – striking but somewhat more bleak in the winter.

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