Vivid Viands

A Stroll Along the Linear Trail

I recently asked my best friend what she would like to see more of in the gazette. I’ve barraged her long-suffering ears with my story ideas for at least twenty-five years now, but this time, she got to pick what I inked. Anna (*her chosen nickname henceforth in my writing) requested “a post on pearls” and “more pictures.” Oddly enough, last year I picked up a peculiar book on the history of pearls from the thrift store. So that post is definitely coming later! However, today I wish to present a pictorial tour of the Linear Trail as a minor visual feast. “Vivid viands” seem a fitting theme for this week, after all.

When I visited the New England side of my family in September, I found myself alone for a few hours one hot and humid afternoon. The golden slant of the sun hit just right on the skin—you know, that feeling when the rays waver between unbearable prickles and cozy radiance?

I couldn’t resist taking a stroll on the Linear Trail, which was luckily accessible within minutes from my family’s apartment complex. The Linear Trail is a splendid little necklace of connecting walking paths, a slim-paved ribbon bordering a river with wild groves of trees, skunk cabbage, jewelweed and copious poison ivy on both sides.

I spent many of my adolescent years wandering there. Many times, when I was fractured by the immensity of teenage emotions, I would walk or bike on the Linear Trail until all my energy was spent. Until nature swallowed my little mind in her wide-open miles, and I gratefully dissolved my own frazzled entity under dendritic shadows and the falling green and orange blossoms of the Tulip Tree, Liriodendron Tulipifera. I was so happy for a brief chance to greet my old friend. The Linear Trail offered its bounty once again to my tired soul, and I hope these tinted fragments of beauty cheer your spirit, too.

Let’s start with a fine garnish of scattered star spray for the eyes’ enjoyment:

Followed by an appetizer of fairy-berry hues:

Aren’t they just as pretty as pastel pearls, or Easter eggs?

Let’s start the first course with a miniature bouquet of sunlight:

Then complement it with a petite sprig of jewelweed gold:

Course number two is dark and heavy with luscious midnight hues:

Wash it down with a gaze upon this nebula-burst of nascent pink dreams:

Leave room for a bold and heady streak of yellow light like a comet’s tail:

Now we reach the third course: shadow-play. Bitter as dark chocolate, but somehow, you can’t get enough of these divine snaps of shade.

Let the delicate blue syrup of the sky drizzle and filter through the soft shadows directly into your pupils:

Oh! I almost forgot the final treat. Let your eyes (not your mouth) devour the gummy-glow of these scarlet candified hues:

Winter is already very much here where I live. Nature has put many of these bright colors to rest for a season. I’m glad that I could share this little handful of gems that dazzle even in the darkest, coldest hours. I’m squeezing in one last jewelweed picture as takeout treasure to warm up later: