The trail is a frozen pond.

Behind the North Riverside Village Commons in Commons Park, the scenic fountain ponds of summer are thick with ice beckoning skaters to take a spin under the gray skies of mid-winter.

The trail is a crystalline symphony.

Down the hill at Swan Pond, the Des Plaines River turns east near the library and off toward Lockport. But right at the bend the river pools and calms off the main channel and the water, up after Christmas rains, laps at the bank in quiet, chiming splats of overlaid chords. 

The trail is cold and misty and ends at the wood chipper. 

The trail is still verdant green. 

September is when the reverse migrating birds begin arriving in earnest, and already the trees across the alley are filling with black birds.