Kraklauer Creek
Several days ago I had the urge to visit Kraklauer Creek. A visit anytime of year is worthwhile. Spring is unusually gratifying because the heat of the direct sun and the longer days, along with a lot of rain transform the creek banks into a thick curtain of vegetation. Wild flowers of various types bloom at their appointed time adding color and beckoning bees and other nectar-loving flying insects.
I like to sit for a while with my camera. Anywhere will do, but if I get close up to a wild flower cluster, there is no wait at all for the action to begin. With this visit I noticed the movement of the flowers, all of the vegetation swaying with the caress of the gusty breeze that came and went. There was movement. There was life. Life is always moving on. A sure way to die is to conclude that yesterday’s ways are good enough; that, “what was good enough for our forefathers is good enough for today.” Stopping change, resisting movement is like stopping the wind.
You might as well engrave “what was good enough…” as the epitaph on your gravestone.
Here are some images of what I saw. They do not do justice to the brilliance, and to the form of the living plants around the flowing creek.
Another thought also came as I contemplated writing this. A quiet session of observation at Kraklauer Creek is an antidote to the addiction to instant gratification, those symptoms, the unsettled twitchiness that comes from spending a good portion of one’s waking hours staring into an iphone screen.
Do we not all need a break for the sake of our sanity; and perhaps for the sake of those wild flowers too? Surely so much beauty is there to be looked at!
Thanks to the Mundelein Park District for their maintenance of Kraklauer Park.