Since June, I’ve been walking the path in the Orland Park Grasslands from 167th and LaGrange, to 104th, to 179th and back up LaGrange back to 167th approximately three times a week. I have enjoyed many hours there, and the path has been improved and beautified since I began. I enjoy the hour and half to a manic degree. I listen to upbeat music, and probably can be heard singing as I cover the five miles. It’s as if each turn of the path brings me to a different geography, a different direction of the wind, and different array of trees, flowers, grasses and topography. Bike riders, walkers, runners and families make use of the path, and all have been so friendly. One day in early fall, I dropped a pair of gloves someplace and I asked two different people who were going in the opposite direction to look out for them. I described my car and asked if they’d found them to leave them there for me. Not only did someone do that for me, but when the jogger came round again (I was still walking), he nodded and in a strong German accent assured me my gloves were on my car. It’s a beautiful place; one I hope to enjoy in early spring when the birds return and the flowers come back to life.
On Sunday, Nov. 29, as I drove north on LaGrange to turn onto 167th to park, a flock of huge, low-flying birds crossed overhead. A birder, I knew these weren’t geese or ducks, and hoped I’d have a chance to see them again. I did. As my walk brought me to the corner of 104th and 179th, hundreds of Sandhill cranes flew overhead. In the hurried moment I could grab my little camera, i snapped one quasi-good shot of them — had no glasses on. This picture is what I took. It was so exciting that they were so close.
I walked the path today, this time belting out a few songs by Adele and chasing a hawk that got away from me just as I got close enough to focus on it. The sun shone, and though it was about 40 degrees this morning, it was warm there—warm, and welcoming.
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It is a place for thinking, for observing, for deep reflection. I guard my time there, turning off my phone, and listening to a playlist that keeps me walking at a constant 3.0 miles per hour. I’ve lost some weight, gained insight into some issues I’ve avoided thinking about and each time I do that course, FitBit gives me 11,000 steps. What an oasis in the midst of the construction on LaGrange and expressway and the nearby malls. There is some construction continuing on the site. I am hoping for a bench or two and some trash cans. But even if they do nothing more, it’s heaven for me.
