In a place with so many deciduous trees where there is nowhere to shop, there lives my arboreal neighborhood, Amory Street where my home is. When you walk down the street, you are under a long tent of tall trees. I remember as a child, I really did not like to walk on my street for a long time after getting off a school bus from a camp I once went to. The bus would not stop on Amory Street; it would stop on an intersecting street. But today, I have no problem with taking a long walk down my street, which I sometimes do when going home from school. My neighborhood is beautiful year round and it is always home even if the trees do not look the same all the time. Therefore, it is always an enjoyable experience to take a stroll down my street and go to the hidden pond.

The hidden pond called Hall’s Pond sanctuary is behind a large grassy hill called Amory Park. There, the chirping of the crickets are audible which makes me feel like I am in the deep woods. I hear the chirping as I skip down a wooden walkway where people can see the ducks swim in the pond. I once strolled down that same walkway as a child. I remember thinking about a swamp I walked over at a day camp I use to go to. The swamp is at a camping site called Hale Reservation. On the way to the lake, my friends, counselors, and I would walk over the swamp using the wooden pathway, but there were no ducks. This memory stays with me while I see lily pads, towering grass, and swimming ducks over Hall’s Pond. In one area, the pond is the color of coffee but in another area, the pond displays a reflection of the sky above. There is another area where the water is polluted with oil. Purple and yellow shiny liquid with the pond’s natural water creates a mixture. Walking away from the pond and into the woods, people pass through a gazebo and see many different types of birds. Hall’s Pond leads people to the woods, where they walk through a tent of trees. One of the trees is a huge monster hand with long fingers that grabs the wind and spreads it to us on breezy days. When the wind is dead, the sanctuary smells like plants. Going into the deepest of the woods past the pond may feel like being lost even when my home is a few blocks away.

Speaking of home, I live near the end of the street. My home is a big house made of bricks and stucco. Amory Street has a few large buildings. Right outside my house, across the street, you will see a large building out of orange bricks. To the left, there is another apartment building out of red bricks. But to the other end of Amory Street near Beacon Street, there are a bunch of small houses next to each other. A field with a patio shaped like an X with a circle in the middle is sandwiched between the apartment building and the crowd of small houses. There is a round garden within the circular patio, that has a light post in the middle surrounded by green plants and white and pink flowers.

However, those flowers are not there all year because of the different seasons. In the spring, the flowers start to bloom and the sun starts to shine after the snow melts. It is time to get excited for seeing the flowers that bring on the vibrant spring fashion. The flowers are all colors from yellow, red, white, orange, pink, and purple. They grow from the ground and also from the trees. The pitter-patter of rain helps the flowers grow faster. After growing up enough, they are able to spray their perfumes up to my nose. The lives of zillions of new green leaves are born, as they grow from the trees. I remember last spring, I once saw a large bouquet of tall red tulips on Newbury Street. Where else can I see them? I wish I could bring one home but it will shrivel up and die. But the presence of flowers also means pollen that makes my eyes itchy and my nose swell up with mucus. The allergies worsen when the buzzing bees throw the pollen up in the air while stealing honey from flowers. But this does not stop people from walking outside. Warm temperature from the sun attracts people so that they can walk outside while showing off their short sleeves. There are more people and migrating birds on Hall’s Pond and on the grassy hill. My neighborhood is all warmed up for summer, the hottest season of the year.

And finally, here comes the time everyone has been looking forward to, summer! Once I leave my house through my door, I feel so much heat radiating on myself. Even if the sun tries its hardest to force its rays to touch the ground, shade and shadow cover my street. This is because there are too many trees. Nevertheless, the beaming sunshine brings happiness and brightens one’s day. Even more people walk on my street to enjoy the sun as they are not very busy since school is out. They spend time on the tickly grass, relax at Hall’s Pond or the nearby grassy hill, or pass by a rainbow spectrum of flowers. They wear sunscreen that gives off its strong aroma. I remember a long time ago when summer neared by, the smell of sunscreen made me feel excited about going to the beach. I always wear sunscreen before stepping into the ocean whenever I visit the beach. But there are days in the summer when people do not go to the beach; that is during the rainy, thundery weather. Raindrops, pouring from buckets, fall down to the ground soaking up Amory Street while a zig zag of lightning flashes and the thunder roars. Fewer people walk outside because thunderstorms make the weather colder which makes it feel like the later season, fall.

As fall nears, people mourn summer and miss all the outdoor fun, the freedom, and the warmth the sun brings out. So do the birds flying around Hall’s Pond as they migrate. Not many people want to see puffy clouds hiding the rays of sunshine, the world turning dark, and the leaves aging with wrinkles and changing color. Brittle orange leaves fall to the ground, give off their fragrance, and shatter beneath my feet as I walk outside. Eventually, there are piles of leaves that are laying on the ground being blown by the whistling wind. The leaves get stepped on by trick-or-treaters on Halloween which is one event that happens during this season. This is the day when people carve pumpkin faces or buy jack-o-lanterns to hang outside. On my street, some glow-in-the-dark jack-o-lanterns are outside watching trick-or-treaters walk by them. They might smell a pumpkin aroma may be present during the time around Halloween. After Halloween, nightfall happens earlier and I can sniff snow when I walk outside. These things prepare me for all the winter fun, such as Christmas except this is the coldest time of the year.

Because winter is so cold, when I walk home, I feel excited to get cozy and warm inside my home just like everyone else. At this time, not many people spend time outside so much. Hall’s Pond is often empty when it is a forbidden ice rink where skaters can get stuck in the frozen icy water. During the winter, fluffy white snow silently falls to the ground. The blanket covers up the grass and the soil. When I walk outside, ice cracks beneath my feet and I can also smell the ice. My favorite holiday, Christmas, occurs. What I love about Christmas is revealing what is hidden inside the presents that have been sitting under the tree being ignored until the day comes. Strings of colorful lights coil around my Christmas tree inside my house every December. Christmas lights are the rainbows of winter. Rainbows bring joy to everyone. Without rainbows, there is not much happiness. Without Christmas, there are no rainbows during the winter. Also, winter would be really bleak as it affects how we feel, what we hear, and what we see. Christmas is the happiest time of winter not only because that is when everyone gets the most gifts but there is also joyful music that bumps up the excitement for the presents. But all that joy ends once the Holiday season is over after the New Year’s celebration. At least people can still go skiing but they will want spring to come faster because the weather will then get balmy. That is when the cycle of seasons starts over, going back to spring.

No matter what season it is, flowers outside, really hot day, leaves on the ground, snow covering up the ground, I can always find my way back home on Amory Street. Different seasons change what we smell, see, hear, and how we feel, but they never change the location of the things on Amory. By walking down the street inside the tunnel of trees while seeing the familiar parks and houses, I know I am already home. The trees guide my way to my house.