Yesterday, we took a walk on Barn Island, a state wildlife management area in Stonington (CT), and loved it like we always do. This is a wetlands area bordering on Little Narragansett Bay, and it is stunningly beautiful in all seasons and weathers. In the distance to the east we saw the far-off blue water of the bay, and then the slim island called Sandy Point, beyond which  the Atlantic Ocean stretches away. On the other side, and all around us, were the undisturbed wetlands, with their ponds and streams and salt marsh grasses of all kinds. Birds were singing on all sides as we walked, and a freshening wind rustled its way through the forest around us. 

Little Narragansett Bay from Barn Island

Happy hikers on the salt marsh

Later in the afternoon, while sitting outside in the shade with Delycia swaying in the hammock beside me, I read aloud some poems of W. H. Auden. We talked about each poem briefly, so as to be better prepared for our book club discussion in the evening. It was a perfect spring afternoon for poems between friends.