Thursday, October 7, 2010

THE SLEEPY HOLLOW BRIDGE


     Yesterday, I was at the local community park a few blocks from my house, and the signs of autumn were everywhere. Leaves were in the first stages of changing, there was a nip in the air, and the woods appeared seasonably barren. Then, my eyes turned to one of my favorite Halloween-type things to see at this particular park. 
    There's a bridge over a wading creek in the park, and I just love the way it looks. The water flows under the bridge, down a rock waterfall, and into a huge pond that usually contains frogs and a few fish during springtime. It looks like your average bridge, but I call it "The Sleepy Hollow Bridge."
    And there's a reason. 
    With all the autumn leaves scattered everywhere and a light whistle of wind in the air, I can't help but envision Ichabod Crane escaping the Headless Horseman across the forbidden bridge of Sleepy Hollow. The actual bridge probably wasn't THIS small, but a guy can only dream, can't he?
    Let's see...Harvest moons, dry leaves decorating the ground, spiders and silky webs, and, now, The Sleepy Hollow Bridge. With all this spookiness I've noticed lately, I can help but wonder if Mother Nature's more excited about Halloween than I am.

2 comments:

The Artful Gypsy aka Wendy the Very Good Witch said...

Well I am lucky in that I got to see the real Sleepy Hollow bridge in Sleepy Hollow /Tarry Town New York a couple of years ago on our Autumn trip. And your image is pretty close. Yes, the real bridge is somewhat larger and longer, but it isn't huge by any stretch, it's not covered like in the Disney cartoon and it's really quite unassuming compared to what I conjured it up to be in my mind.

But it was picturesque with the leaves scattered all about and the nippy air. And it has actually been moved from its original location so many years ago when Irving wrote the tale. Sadly I had a ton of great photos from the cemetery where it resides. But my compact flash was formatted over them, before I had uploaded them to my computer. Woe is me... But I still remember it all vividly in my mind and your image is very close indeed. I intend to go back again, maybe next year and retake the photos that I lost. Nice post! :o)

J.E. Bolton said...

Thank you, Wendy, for your kind words. KUDOS on your blog as well!