Penning Photography Daily

The Margery Adams Wildlife Sanctuary is also home to the Illinois Audubon Society. It’s an urban woodland oasis just off the busy Clear Lake Avenue, near I-55 in Springfield, Illinois.

I’ve never visited before tonight.

I was heading home after a family meal gathering with visiting relatives. Camera in hand, thinking that the light was looking mighty fine, wondering where I might find my photo for today. I had passed up the Adams Wildlife Sanctuary countless times in my life, before it was a sanctuary and just looking like an overgrown homestead. Tonight I passed it up again on my way to the gathering of the clan, but coming home, I veered into the entrance at the last second.

The Illinois Audubon Society has been restoring the true historical woods of the 30 acre site, bit by bit. I did not know before reading of it recently, that there are walking trails through the woods. That was in my mind as I felt moved to stop.

The site was closed, but I parked and walked about a bit, not intending to really explore the woods without it being open. I didn’t want to be thought a vandal or burglar, so I was quick.

What I saw, will have me going back soon. Very soon.

This was my first frame. Sometimes, it’s the last, but this time, the one which grabbed me was the first.

The tall, majestic tree, an elm, I think, standing at the entrance of the deep woods, bisected beyond this frame with a small path. I grew up with woods such as these as my playground. My siblings and I would have adventures in and around all the tall trees, and hunt for treasures in the pockets of sandstone in a hillside, splash through the mounds of leaves in the Fall, and listen to the quiet of Winter.

The woods were my friends, my companions at play.

They still are, here welcoming me to come and explore.