Hayden Woods

Had a sore throat, and sinus congestion, that pretty much kept me inside for the past two weeks. I think I was indoors for a higher proportion of time than any other period in my life. Was finally feeling better, so I decided to go for a walk in the Conservation Land next to where I used to live in Lexington, back in the early 80's. 

I was renting a tiny Cape, built on a cement slab, on a large, but oddly sloped, triangular lot. The slab meant no basement, and cold floors in the Winter. At one point, I had both my brother Larry (who was in High School), and my brother Bernie (who had dropped out of College), living there with me (but that's a whole other story). It took me a while to realize that this neighborhood had probably been developed right after WWII, and that all the houses had once been exactly the same. Over the years, they had all been added onto and modified; except for mine, which was still the original Cape Cod.

(The house is no longer there. Some years ago there was an article in the Boston Globe about "Teardowns", and the pictures were of the all-new, modern structure being put up where my little house had been.)

But, I still remember going for long walks in the nearby Hayden Woods, especially the time I went out one extremely icy New Year's Day. No one else was even outside, and the only thing I heard were trees cracking from the cold. When I got back to the house, I had a thick layer of ice on my upper lip where the moisture in my breath had condensed and frozen over my moustache.

Here are some cellphone pictures from today's walk. The boardwalks are fairly new, and obviously date from much later than when I used to live there. It's impressive that Lexington, which has been settled for so long, has managed to set aside so much land. (Click on any photo to see larger versions.)