It is a windy, early autumn Sunday in Brooklyn. It was forecast to be rainy, but a nor’easter storm that was supposed to drench New York City has been to slow to arrive. So it is merely drizzling, but the wind is blowing and howling, full of sound and fury, signifying freedom.
I had already planned to stay indoors, to read and write quietly, so here I am anyway, at home, sharing a few photos from the best walks I have taken so far this autumn.
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a short walk away from home, but reaching Cold Spring, on the banks of the Hudson River, requires a train ride on the Metro North railway. On a Sunday sunny Sunday, the ride was marvelous, and led to gentle, joyful hiking with beautiful vistas of the river.
A much longer train ride took me north to Boston, Massachusetts. I went to do archival research on the manuscripts of Charles Sanders Peirce, at Houghton Library of Harvard University. I enjoyed familiar walks on Harvard Yard and Cambridge.
I enjoyed most, however, lodging at Somerville, where I had never stayed, and getting to walk the neighborhood around Davis Square.
After that trip, I returned to Brooklyn to find the colors of autumn firing up the maples at Prospect Park.
These have been simple, lovely walks –some urban, others in parks and gardens– to soothe the relative melancholy of this incoming autumn.
Daniel G. Campos 