Man, what an emotion ladened weekend! I have been weepy, tears just behind the eyes, catch ready to happen in my throat for two days. Yesterday, some of that was relieved by a walk around Walden Pond.

It was an incredibly beautiful fall day, a bit warm for my still Wisconsin standards, but delightful to walk. I was looking for a contemplative walk in the woods, a la Henry David Thoreau. Instead, the biggish beach and the tiny beaches all around the pond had families, picnickers, swimmers and kayakers chattering and enjoying the day. And the path around the pond has a layer of small stones and our shoes made noise as we moved along. Julia didn’t mind at all and I had to smile that I actually expected a quiet, mystical stroll. There were a few moments, a few feet of the path every so often, where there were no small stones and where we were not close to those playing in the water. And for those few moments, it was blessedly quiet—once I turned around to make sure Julia was still in back of me. And the quiet captured some of what was in my heart.