Summer In The

High Meadow

To the Editor:

Whoever is responsible for this year’s delay in haying the High Meadow — be it the Fairfield Hills Authority, the Parks and Recreation Department, the Conservation Commission, or even the farmer who has been too busy and simply hasn’t gotten around to it yet — I just want to say thank you.

Walking there today, I noticed how many creatures had filled the meadow habitat and were happily thriving there. Bees and butterflies fed on clover and wildflowers. The season’s first crickets were chirping from safe hideouts deep down in the tall grass. Bobolink families with new fledglings called back and forth across a far field. I spotted my first Monarch of the year. A red-tailed hawk soared overhead, claiming the territory with its high-lonesome, screeching call.

How peaceful it was watching the wind ruffle those feathery grasses in rhythmic waves. For some reason, the scene reminded me of the American prairie and the early pioneers’ voyage west in covered wagons. Not that I was there, mind you; but I can see why to them the endless prairie recalled a Sea of Grass and why they named their wagons Prairie Schooners.

The sight of a golden meadow ripening in the summer sun provides as sublime a view as one could ask for in this increasingly urbanized world. Newtown is lucky to have this beautiful walking trail and tall-grass meadow for everyone to enjoy.

Dottie Evans

1 Reservoir Road, Newtown                                               July 3, 2012