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Look up!
The sunstreaked canopy glows as warmly as stained glass in a cathedral that offers fallen moss-padded pews strewn among its living pillars and adds a chorus of crows eschewing an errant owl on a distant esker.
Kettle Moraine State Forest - Northern Unit
Sassy trees wave flaming fingertips laughingly at heaven until their bright cloaks and frilly undergarments slip to the ground, unclaimed.
I blush at the thought that all their limbs and crotches become naked before the cold staring eyes of winter.
Cloud shadows slide over moody hillsides dimming the glow of a distant shore for a fleeting moment, making photographers impatient.
A late afternoon autumn haze softens the shoulders of the eastern moraine and cools the rising thermals. Turkey vultures are drifting slowly south in season.
If I had wings I could view the forest like a soaring turkey vulture. I don't have wings, so I climbed the observation tower on the very top of the moraine. I count six kames on the outwash plain in the distance. Do you?
My footsteps on the trail stir small puffs of dust to powder the dry crackling leaves on the forest floor, yet the foliage above is lush and exuberant.
Brash bold brush strokes meld gently into flowing watercolors washed by ripples. I see a challenging jigsaw puzzle here.
Kames are shaped like Hershey's Kisses. This one's topped with colored sprinkles.
It's been a pleasant Wisconsin walk in the woods. Happy hiking.
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