Turn the Page! / Upper Greens Run, Bald Eagle SP

It was the last of the really great weather, for coming days would bring us some rain, followed by the first dash of SNOW in the forecast for Thursday into Friday. So we did two things. When I got up, I washed a load of laundry and put it on the line.

Also, we packed a few things in my car and headed for Bald Eagle State Park. We had not been there since our final swim of the season in mid-September. It's very strange, at change of seasons. We swam there so many times this past summer that I took more showers there (in the cold outdoor shower) than I did at home! And then suddenly, we don't go back for months.

"Anywhere in particular you'd like to go?" my husband asked. And I replied that whatever he wanted to do was fine. So we ended up driving to the park, taking Upper Greens Run Road, driving past the beautiful little old cemetery on the hill (Sandhill Cemetery), and parking the car at Upper Greens Run.

The road is closed there, and gated at both ends. The closed road is pretty cool, and we started walking up it, but then we both realized at the same instant that we didn't really want to leave the lake. So we turned around and came back, and sat in our chairs by Upper Greens Run and read our books.

I had a very fine view from there, which you may see in the extras. This area is a VERY popular fishing destination. And in fact, several fishermen came and went while we were there. There are a few sycamores there, which I like very much; I always think of them as ghost trees.

You can also put a boat in there, but the boat ramp seemed dauntingly steep to me. It might be a fine trick in some weather and at certain times of year to get your truck both down that ramp and then back UP it with a boat attached.

I sat at a little culvert that was the connector between the run itself and the lake, which was fun. In one direction was the main lake, beyond that spit of trees in the photo in the extras. If I turned my chair around, I was looking at the run, which was very low-key and pretty. The sun showed up and warmed things up into the 60s.

I was surprised when I was joined by a small red dragonfly (my ID program says it's an adult male Yellow-legged Meadowhawk, Sympetrum vicinum), about an inch long, who sat on the pages of my open book while it was in my hands. It sat on the left page first. Flew away. Came back. Sat on the right page. It felt absolutely magical. What a beautiful little creature!

I discovered that if I slowly inched my right hand carefully down, I could get my camera out of its bag and sneak a photo or two of my new little friend. I wasn't sure if it was offering to serve as my bookmark, or whether it was reading along with my story, enjoying every word, and just waiting for me to turn the page!

Sadly, for the dragonfly's sake, anyway, I had to leave before I got to the end of the book. I finished it at home later that evening, much to my enjoyment AND my chagrin. The book in the photo is Blood and Ice, by Robert Masello. It is one of the best books I've read this year, full of drama, history, mystery, suspense, and even romance. 

I wish I had never read it so that I could read it again for the first time. I miss the main characters already. And perhaps, somewhere at Bald Eagle State Park right now, my dragonfly may be sitting there by the water, wondering WHAT HAPPENED NEXT????? HOW DID IT END???

We need two soundtrack songs and so here are two. First, for the one above, I just HAVE to use the song Turn the Page, by Bob Seger. Oh, what the heck. For my view of the lake, let's have another Bob Seger tune. Here's one for a lake: Fire Lake.