The Habit of Remembering: Of Mulberries and Meandering -- Elmwood Park in the Summer

Hot---that's what it was--- hot. I hadn't even opened my eyes yet, but I knew it was going to be a really hot day. The fans blowing into our Wiman Ave home hadn't done much to cool off the house, let alone our room overnight. Summer was in full swing given the temperature at barely nine o'clock in the morning. My sister and I decided downstairs must be cooler, and so we both headed down for breakfast. Opening the refrigerator, we both grabbed a slice of cold pizza---the breakfast of champions...or at least teenager who wanted something cold for breakfast on a hot day.

The house was getting warm already. My sister and I discussed what we should do for the day. We knew we didn't want to stay home. It was a nice day in spite of the rising temperatures. Biking around the streets in the Valley seemed too hot for the day. We thought about going swimming, but walking to Valley Pool seemed to hot and McKinley Pool was in the full sun. While munching our pizza the thought of finding a nice shady spot seemed like the perfect idea. "How about we go to Elmwood?," my sister suggested. We hadn't been there much since we moved to the area. It seemed like the perfect place to explore...and with all those trees, there was bound to be shade.

After saying goodbye to our mom, we headed for Elmwood Park. From my babysitting money I had enough money with me to stop at Wilson Farms on the corner of Valley Dr and South Ave and buy two sodas, two fruit pies and two bags of chips which would serve as our less than nutritional lunch; but hey, it was summer after all! I put our plunder in my backpack, and we headed across the street, ready for our adventure.

Once we reached the park, a bit hot from the climbing temperature as we walked, Elmwood felt like an oasis. There was a slight cool breeze coming down the gorge area. And there was shade...all those trees. We felt like we had walked out of the city and straight into the woods. As we walked along the path talking about everything and nothing as teenagers do, we noticed all the steps that seemed to go off in different directions. We decided to take one set of  stairs to our right that seem to follow the curve of the hill, just a few feet up.

All the green and shade made us almost forget about the heat as we continued on the path. It led down to another green area. From there we could see a bridge made of stone. This place became more and more magical as we crossed it to the other side. There were more paths on the other side.

We decided to take this double staircase just to see where it led. It lead on much higher edge of the gorge; but as we continued, it leveled out near the creek once more. We passed a place where it was obvious someone had had a small campfire recently. As the path wound back toward the the brook, we could see our high school, Corcoran, in the distance. As we got closer to the little path that connected the playing fields with the park, to our delight we found black-cap raspberry bushes! Free snack! We spent the next half and hour or so eating as many berries as we could pick. They tasted so good just warmed by the sun. Our hands stained a purply- magenta color but we didn't care.

Then back into the refuge of the park's shade, we walked back downstream. We had fun noticing paths where time seemed to have obscured their exact placements. We loved looking at the rocks that formed the edge to the stream in parts. Then back by the stone bridge once again, we stopped in the shade of a tree to eat our lunch. Just listening to the water rush past made us almost forget we were not far from the rushing traffic on Glenwood. We really felt like we were in a different world, maybe a different dimension. We took off our sneakers and let the cold water rush over our toes as we finished off our pies. We couldn't think of any better place to be. A cool breeze would trickle down the brook adding to the delight of of the afternoon.

After we let our feet dry off, we laced up our sneakers and tried one more path, we crossed the second bridge and took another small staircase to see where it would lead. To our delight, and perhaps our lack of sense of direction, it landed at the double staircase that led us on the higher path.

Not wanting to completely retrace our steps, we wound around the bend, headed back over the stone bridge to head home. As we crossed we noticed these berries on the ground. We looked up---what luck---we found a mulberry tree! So once again we stopped to eat as many ripe mulberries as we could reach and eat. It made a perfect end to our day together at the park.

As we headed past the old stone mill and into the direct sun once again, the heat of the day was more apparent. We walked home as quickly as possible to the waiting fans in the house, which now seemed like a really good idea. Grabbing a glass of cold lemonade from the refrigerator, we sat in front of the fan near the couch and cooled off. Sitting there sipping, it now seemed like our day had almost been a dream: cool breeze, cold water, and berries nearly at every turn. Elmwood was sure a magical place to visit: paths that went in every direction, stone bridges, a beautiful creek, and an array of green that defied naming. It seemed another world away in the late afternoon's heat which had not yet begun to drop; but then again, maybe it was.... 😊