Nature School :: Roads Go Ever On

Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.

Still 'round the corner there may wait
A new road or secret gate;
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.

~The Hobbit :: J.R.R. Tolkien

The children and I took a little walk for our nature school yesterday.  We hiked the CCC Trail at Hungry Mother State Park, which is just over the hill from us.  It's just a little connector trail, but I like it.  We walked as far as we wanted and then turned to go back.  The trail crosses the same little stream several times, so there were several bridges.  We kept going just a bit farther, to see what might be around the next turn.  I like walks like that.  It was just what we needed to brighten our spirits.

I guess now is the time of year to call back to older times, to times that may have never happened, but live in our imaginations.  I can still hear my father read this poem to me (what is here is not its entirety).  I guess he must have really treasured those books to read them so diligently.  Having seen the older movies in my college years, I can't say that I cared for them.  The mood of the actual writing is different, for sure.  Movies are always like that, aren't they?  Like we need some shocking thrill to get us going on the story.  I prefer the pictures I have made in my mind.

We are expecting snow today through Sunday and I am, of course, very excited.  It seemed all the snow was going South, but we were smiled upon, after all.  I think a bonus nature school is in order, good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise.  Willow will have to squeeze her toes into her old snow boots one last time.