The street lights had not timed off when I encountered the elegant great blue heron this morning. I saw him a little earlier, downstream fishing. He is on his way now to Carroll Creek at the edge of the lawn. At the far end of Culler Lake is the stand of trees that is home to the charming night herons, birds who have a great deal to say about life and the universe, day and night, and loudly. They win the prize for their commitment to elocution training, repeating over and over every comment made by each other. It is unlikely that any of them will ever forget their lines, so dedicated is their practice.
The Carroll Creek is especially pretty farther ahead and off the path. I have mentioned the old sign along this stretch of the creek, advising that children and the blind may fish for trout, but no one else. I hope this means there are trout in the stream, and the stream is clean. I can tell you that there are fish enough for the birds who make their living by the creek.
Here is a photo of an area where it is only a foot or so deep, and a very good fishing spot for a bird.
Along the stream bank I found flowers in full bloom: black-eyed susans, monarda (bee balm), and many species from the close-by herb garden at Schifferstadt. Insects and birds had carried the seeds and dropped them on the bank, where they naturalized.
This area is near Schifferstadt, the lovely, 250-year-old exemplar of German colonial architecture on the edge of town.
Rumor once had it that Jacob Bruner built a secret passage leading from the stone-walled cellar to the outside of his stone house.
I had been told this by a man who as a child had played with his friends in the cellar, and I know the story was true, but from the perspective of a child. On a tour of the house 15 years ago, I saw what those children saw. The cellar is a complex space, and a stone archway connects its rooms. The stone archway was the secret passage the children saw.
The society that has preserved the house ( http://www.frederickcountylandmarksfoundation.org/), possibly knowing the rumors butalso aware of architectural possibilities in such a historic building brought in specialists who studied and probed and after much effort concluded that there was no hidden passage. It would have been easier to hand a few nine-year-old children lighted candles, send them to explore the old cellar and report their findings over snow cones and ice cream. Perspective is everything.
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