I grew up reading Holling Clancy Holling’s spectacular books that detailed the story, both natural and man-made, of the great rivers of North America and of the sea.  The influence of those books was greater than I realized. 

Writing a comment on a local paper today about the Maple Hollow (also known as Stub Hollow) brook made me think.  I know that the water on this hill will flow down to the hollow, past Stoney Lonesome pond, past Brad’s pond, past Gray’s pond.  There in the floodplain swamp of red maple it will join the Nepaug River, then the Farmington River, then the Connecticut River, and then at last the Long Island Sound and the Atlantic, shining grey beyond the sand dunes. 

Of course, most of it will probably be diverted from the Nepaug reservoir to serve as drinking water for Hartford and the surrounding towns.  But still, knowing the water’s course gives me a connection to something indescribably beautiful.