"Miles To Go Before I Sleep"

The title of this entry is the title of a favorite Robert Frost poem.  Many of you will recognize it.  I first read the poem as a college sophomore in an American Literature course. Following the poem are four pictures of Prospect Gardens with the long awaited protective  snow cover.  Snow of significant depth finally arrived. Today's 40 degree temperatures will result in substantial snow melt.  This Saturday Ann and  I will be hosting the annual dinner for the Garden's core volunteers. Ann is preparing a Hungarian meal with beef goulash as the main dish and her popular kiflis (butterhorns) for dessert.  We will enjoy the meal and our company, and briefly talk about the upcoming gardening season.

Another set of pictures are from my neighborhood.  These were taken as I enjoyed this last week of beautiful snow.  On Monday, I visited and skied through woods in the nearby University of Wisconsin Arboretum.  Yesterday, I skied the trails in the Odana Golf Course, also nearby.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

BY ROBERT FROST

Whose woods these are I think I know.   

His house is in the village though;   

He will not see me stopping here   

To watch his woods fill up with snow.   

My little horse must think it queer   

To stop without a farmhouse near   

Between the woods and frozen lake   

The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake   

To ask if there is some mistake.   

The only other sound’s the sweep   

Of easy wind and downy flake.   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

 One of the birdhouses with a mantle of snow on the roof. Last season, a wren investigated but did not choose this colorful abode. Perhaps this season a less picky wren will decide otherwise. However, there are several other nearby attractive birdhouses. The Gardens and the nearby homes offer many options.

 Tall grasses, such as this one, provide texture to the winter  Gardens. Come spring we will cut back this one and other grasses throughout the Gardens. Other gardens along the path are maintained through controlled burning which also helps control weeds. We don't burn because of the close proximity to homes.  Plus I am unsure about the effectiveness of burning because of all the small rocks spread throughout most of the Gardens. Supposedly these rocks (referred to as "rip rap") prevent erosion. 

 A section of the mural now nearly nine years old. I am surprised how well the mural has weathered as the years keep slipping by.

 Remnants of Purple Cone flowers left to provide seeds for birds. Hopefully some seeds have survived, now dormant  and waiting to germinate and become part of the next life cycle.  I will be on the look out for any new seedling as spring inevitably arrives.  Cycles of life continue even in the dead of Wisconsin winter.

Ann and  I live in an awesome neighborhood. Lake Wingra and portions of the Arboretum are just a half block across the street from our apartment. Now that the trees are bare I can see the lake from my window.  Our  apartment building is on one of  the busiest streets of Madison  surrounded by well maintained neighborhoods.  To the north and up to the bike path are smaller houses built during the 1920s and 1930s.  Just to the west of us is the Nakoma neighborhood, an affluent enclave with winding streets and with large homes. Nakoma was platted in 1915 as a picturesque suburb in the country with winding roads, its own water system, its own private bus service and substantial lands set aside for parks, tennis courts and a golf course. To make this new suburb more appealing to families, the developers even replaced the old schoolhouse with a new grade school in 1917 and built the Nakoma Country Club in 1921. It was one of the most prestigious neighborhoods of its time as it is today. 

I often walk through Nakoma enjoying examples of Colonial, Greek, Tudor Revival, French Provincial, and Prairie style homes.  During summer, once a week, I enjoy doing Tai Chi on the deck of a Nakoma Colonial, along with others from our church. 

Here are nine winter pictures taken from my recent walks, and two while cross country skiing.  

Here's one of many smaller homes that make up our nearest neighborhood, about a half block to the north of our apartment building. The man who lives in the house with his family loves to build mega snow forts or should we call them edifices.  Last winter, his creation rose above the windows and the roof of the front stoop. The structure was so tall that he installed wooden supports, creating a two story fort.

 This tree, in nearby Wingra Park, is dated as being planted during the year our US Constitution was written.  Going east, it's located just off the bike path and on the north side, just past the playground.

I  visit the tree during all seasons of  the year.  Leaning up against its rough bark gives me great comfort.  May it outlive me.

 In the picture to the right, frozen Lake Wingra is in the background. A comfortable setting, along the shore, for a summer picnic or just to rest one's weary soul.

 I took this picture near Edgewood College and near  where Emily and I went sledding when Emily was a young child.  There was a hill on the Edgewood campus perfect for sledding.  Now a science building and other improvements make sledding impossible.  We had an orange plastic sled similar to the  one in the picture.  She would climb into the sled and I would pull her from our home to the hill.

 Here are two pink Flamingos covered with snow. These are in front of a Nakoma home.  Flamingos have a special place in UW Madison traditions starting in 1979.  On the first day of classes, September 4th, students were treated to the sight of 1,008 plastic pink flamingos placed on Bascom Hill by student government pranksters from the Pail and Shovel Party. The party won that year's student government election.

The Pail and Shovel party President, Leon Varjian, and his friends did other pranks.  On a cold winter day, a sinking plywood replica of the Statue of Liberty appeared on frozen Lake Mendota.  Leon led a rollicking  boom box parade down State State celebrating the return of warm spring days.

Periodically these lawn ornaments reappear on Bascom Hill.  For example, during October 2017, Homecoming the flock returned as a part of a fund raising activity.  Alumni and others could purchase the iconic birds. 

We have many "Little Libraries" in the surrounding neighborhoods. This one is in front of a Nakoma home and depicts the splendor of the large home located behind  it.

Here's another Little Library near Edgewood College and at the entrance to the "Pleasure Drive" bordering Lake Wingra. The design is quite pleasant and does not resemble nearby homes.

I skied past this majestic building constructed by men from the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) when they were developing the UW Arboretum,. The CCC was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men. Originally for young men ages 18–25, it was eventually expanded to ages 17–28.

Here's a trail I followed through that borders an area of the Arboretum called the "Lost City."  In the early 1900s the developer Chandler B. Chapman, began building Lake Forest. He envisioned an expansive suburban utopia, covering 800-acre, complete with street-car service, playgrounds, schools, gas and electric lines and a water supply rivaling that of Madison itself.  The upraised placard explains the doomed city. Adventuresome hikers willing to go off the trails will find remnants of roads and home foundations.  Sometimes, as I walk the trails, I feel the urge to search for traces of the city. 

For several reasons, including problems building in a flood plain and financial challenges, Lake Forest never became a reality. Developers declared bankruptcy. In the late 1940s, UW Madison purchased the land and the 800 acres became part of the Arboretum.  For more information, see 

https://badgerherald.com/artsetc/2015/09/14/madisons-lost-city-inside-the-forgotten-remains-of-lake-forest/

As I traveled down the trail, the woods were not quite as "deep and dark" as the woods in the Robert Frost's poem.  Yet they were lovely and the solitude fed my soul.  With gratitude in my heart for a beautiful Wisconsin winter day, I made my way through the remnants of  Lake Forest and back to my car in the parking lot.