Monday, December 29, 2008

A Walk in the Woods

After the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparations, the excitement and giddiness of my girls opening gifts, and the visiting and sharing of meals with family and friends, I needed some quiet time. So on a walk I went.

The day wasn't particularly beautiful—the sun was hidden and the sky was mostly overcast—but I really enjoyed the peacefulness and stillness of the winter day. As I tromped through the woods, I snapped some pictures and contemplated the year past and the year to come. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost came to mind.


Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;



Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was snowy* and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,



And both that morning equally lay
In snow* no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for any other day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.



I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—



I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.



*due to weather conditions, I took the liberty of substituting "snowy" for "grassy"
and "snow" for "leaves"

Dinner last night: ham and bean soup, dinner rolls



5 comments:

Lana@The Kids Did WHAT?! said...

Oooh. I love the fourth picture down of the evergreen. Very pretty.

Glad you got some time to sneak away from the hustle and bustle.

Helene said...

Such gorgeous pictures!!!!! Everytime I see your pics, it makes me want to visit Alaska even more! It just seems like such a beautiful place!!

JenEverAfter said...

My middle school teacher made us memorize that OTHER well-known Frost poem, and some of the phrases still leap to mind on beautiful days like yours!

twinmamabee said...

Wow, those pictures are absolutely stunning. My favorite is the first one. And to put it to Robert Frost's poem...wow, that is all I can say.

Thank you

Michele said...

Kim, this is my oldest son's favorite poem! I found this awesome website (Wordle) through another blog that generates a word cloud from your text. I entered this poem in to make a birthday gift for my son, but I hope you'll like it too. I've posted it on my blog.