The cart track and the utility path took me downhill, below the most picturesque green, where I found the pond. Drained before the golf course was rebuilt, the pond shimmered today, encircled with flowers and thistle and cattails and leafy greenery all round. Missing, though, is the old bridge with its iron rails, access to the center of pond activity now cut off.
"What are you looking for?" the student asked. "Odonates," I answered, guessing (rightly) that her waders and other gear suggested naturalist study. "You?" I added. "Salamanders," she said. "I'm doing a study, and I must say it's hard work. But fun."
When one golfer finished the third green and before others managed to shoot to it, I climbed up the hill and paused, taking in the view of the plateau and Shakerag Hollow, Roark's Cove and beyond. On my way back to the golf house where I started, three men stopped their golf cart and said, "We saw you up there. What were you looking for -- birds or balls?" "Dragonflies and damselflies," I answered. They looked puzzled, and one said "Ah!" as they drove off.
I am glad of the new course, the spectacularly lively pond, and the clutch of Halloween Pennants balancing on winds of changing weather. Sometimes change is good, even when challenging.
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