The following text is from Maria Garcia's 2002 memoir Journey Through Time. Maria is walking through a familiar park where she spent much of her childhood. She walked down the path she knew so well. The old swings creaked as if sharing her memories. The trees stood tall, unchanged, watching over the park as they always had. Soon she reached the small pond, where ducks swam lazily. Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?