Daniel Strauss

                                                                                                                        English 100

                                                                                                                               Project #2

                                            Changing Seasons

Magnolias, maples and pines. Only one is capable of displaying the most dramatic seasonal changes that nature has to offer. Just beyond my window stood the towering icon of the surrounding forest. The other trees surrendered their space to its dominating stature. The pines and maples encompassing the magnolia were particularly jealous of its many flowers. To me, the magnolia was more than just a tree. It was nature’s timekeeper, marking the seasons with its unique and constantly changing appearance. I channeled my mind away from the magnolia temporarily. Something about the magnolia sparked all the memories and emotions of every summer I have ever spent up in the Boundary Waters. As Mother Nature has quietly spoken to me over a lifetime of paddling, camping, and fully experiencing the immense, unspoiled acreage of the Boundary Waters, this is what she has given me.

        The Boundary Waters is a land without roads, without motors, without neighbors. There are no distractions, stressors, or troubles. It is a place that allows people to safely lose themselves in its openness. It is a place where the stars can be seen like nowhere else in the world. This past summer, on a chilly night in June, I laid down on several old planks of wood that reached out into the calm water. It was a sad excuse for a dock but as I was staring up at the stars, each individually glimmering in the vast darkness, all my thoughts and worries vanished. I felt as though I was a part of those stars. I felt a part of their light. The stars finally allowed me to detach myself from earth. The wonderment that only a child can know jolted through my veins. Gazing from one part of the sky to the next, I wasn’t thinking about atoms, protons, or any other principles of astronomy, just stars, as they should be seen. The sky was cluttered with them. There were no cities, lights, or noises to extract the beauty from the northern sky that night. I channeled my vision from the star-lit sky to the fog that was lost in the needles of the white pines bordering the still lake. As I sat on those slabs of wood overlooking Lake Burntside, I knew that this place would always serve as my home away from home. But, as all things must come to an end at some point in time, summer became the victim to time. I would soon embark on another new chapter in my life. In this chapter, buses, people, and classes take the places of canoes, nature, and camping. I sat peacefully on the dock, enjoying the first few hours of my last summer as a kid. As college was only three months away, I had planned to stay up late to watch the stars and contemplate my future that night. Three months later I packed my bags and headed south, from pine trees to corn, back home to Wheaton, Illinois. It was difficult to accept the fact that the stars would no longer look the same as they did that night. It would be another nine months before I would be able to experience that sight again. With each change in season, I grow closer to the towering pines, shimmering stars, and crackling fires of the north.  

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        The calendar insists that it is now autumn. There is a sense of sadness and departure in the air. The nights are clear, the sky is a deep blue, and the birds have suddenly disappeared. The fall leaves begin to take on an entirely new set of hues. Splashes of red, orange, and yellow stain the leaves that now droop from tree branches that were once full and green. I stare outside my window as a feeling of desolation begins to creep into my body. The first thing that my eyes focus on is the magnolia tree that sits all ...

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