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         ___|:  |___|:  \ ___|:  \           DizDate: 12/95
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  «¬¬¬¬¬|       |   |:   |    |:  |¬¬¬¬¬«    Subject/Topic is on:
   «¬¬¬¬|   |:  |   |:   |        |¬¬¬¬«     [Descriptive Essay on my      ]
    ----\___|:  |\__     |\__     |----      [Walden - Place of Escape     ]
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ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>Chop Here>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
Walden Essay

    An escape, a release, an excursion from normal day to day activities:
Oppermans Pond.  My childhood is as a novel with the pages filled of
memories of this serene Pond and its surroundings.  The Pond is no more
than 3/10ths by 1/10th of a mile in dimensions.  It is set back among
luscious green and yellow pine and maple trees and surrounded by regularly
mowed green grass.  The mix of green shades are similar to a young child's
drawing using 5 different bright green and yellow markers.

    I lived across the street from this pond for 17 years before leaving to
live in Dallas last year.  I spend many hours simply thinking on top of a
rock protruding from the ground towards the east side of the Pond. My
thinking rock, as I dubbed it, has sat next to the pond for as long as I
can remember.  The rock is about 5 feet tall off the ground and about 20
feet in circumference around the base.  The top of the rock is leveled,
forming a level bench.  This flat bench has provided my seat over the years
allowing me to peer out across the Pond.  I would look around myself and
ponder the questions of life and become fascinated with everything around
me as well as listen to the sounds of nature.  I hear many sounds; the
ribbit of a dirty-green plump frog hidden amongst the underbrush, chirps of
birds high in the sky, and the soft wind as it rustles leaves on the trees.
The most amazing scene I have witnessed many times along this pond is the
ducks.

    Every few days, I see a family of ducks traveling across the green
grass.  The smallest duck, no more than 4 inches tall, would march proudly
near the end of the pack.  I see sparse, thin clumps of down over his
otherwise bare self as he bellows, with his newborn duckling voice, a high
pitched quack.  As my eyes follow the family towards the frond of the line,
the elder ducks appear covered with stiffened slick feathers.  Being the
more grown and mature ducks in this family, their quacks are extremely
sharp and given off in a shrill loud pitched voice.

    Eventually, the ducks walk towards the lake and swim away to a new
destination.  The sight of this family, with their parading children
keeping a close distance behind, visually displayed the cycle of life from
a baby to an adult and showed how much we can all change.  As their quacks
blend in with the other animals nearby, another chapter is ended and a new
one beginning within the novel entitled, "Oppermans Pond".
