It's getting to that time of winter where I begin to get a little antsy waiting for Spring to arrive. According to my Baseball spring training countdown widget, it is 29 days until it begins; the spring thaw has not yet arrived, in fact the worst is yet to come with Febrary being the cruelest month in our winters with March always waiting, or lurking is a better word with a surprise or two in the way of snowstorms.

So it is time for we natives of the midwest to sit back again and dream a little of our favorite summer places. For me one of those is a walking and/or biking path that runs between Mt. Vernon Ohio and Kenyon college in Gambier. The small river called Kokosing runs beside the wooded path that meanders through hillsides and over one-time railroad trestles and bridges. Deer can be seen from time to time appearing from the wooded hillside investigating we humans and then turning and scampering back into the woods. The walk is not too long, about three to four miles one way, but in the serene and peaceful surroundings in the beautiful springs we are blessed with and/or the brisk fall months it cannot be surpassed.

So for a little while longer I will think back on those times and dream of the times ahead when we can again walk and talk over our past and future. It's a wonderful setting in which to put everything into perspective or maybe nudging a little into the wishful kind of talk. But anyway my partner of these fifty-two years will be able to again walk the path, at least an abbreviated portion of it, as she has a surgically mended knee ready for a test drive on the walk.

I can't wait.