I decided to go outside this weekend. Friday was around 80 degrees with clear blue sunshine. I even took a break at work so that I could go on a walk. I began scheming about finding a place to go hiking on Saturday and I ended up at Scott Park (weather forecasts weren't good and it's easy to get here and get home). The one in the upper left hand corner is me. Only I didn't have a stick and I wore shoes. There were no horseback riders and bicyclers on the trail. There weren't any renegade motor bikers either. In fact, I did not encounter a single soul on this trail, remnants of souls perhaps, but no human beings. The nice thing about not seeing anyone on the trails is that you can let yourself run wildly down the hills without fear of running into anyone or looking foolish should you fall (I didn't fall down, but I wouldn't have run at all had I thought someone might have seen if I did).
The wind came with me. As you know, it's one of my favorite companions, but the sunshine was missing and it certainly wasn't 80 degrees. The clouds were churning making me think I was foolish for hiking with the chance of thunderstorm so high. I think the wind gust may have been around 50 mph, but it's at a lake so there was none of that sand-stinging-your-skin pain. Planning Saturday based on Friday is no good, but Saturday should always be about feeling the wind in your face, hot or cold.
There were interesting sites. I love the way ants carry away yucky things. Taking a walk or a hike reminds you to look at things like this. Maybe you wouldn't enjoy looking at this, but there are other things to stop and look at, whether for admiration or for wonder. As Ralph Waldo Emerson observed, "there is no object so foul that intense light will not make beautiful". You should stop on hikes to look at things because being here is the point. There were lovelier things on the trail, but a hollowed carcass of a centipede (or whatever was its species) with ants crawling all over it is pretty fun.
My sock did not survive the hike. I didn't get a blister from this even though I felt the hole pretty early on in the going. I wore socks that were more appropriate for a walk in lycra pants. I'm fairly certain I bought these socks to wear with my lycra pants (actually lycra capris). There will always be things in your life that make you want to stop or that keep you from starting. Your socks or your messy house may try to keep you from going outside or even try to shorten your time spent hiking, but ignore them. Ignore everything that prevents you from taking a moment to climb to the top and look around. I even accept that I shouldn't consider whether or not there are others present when I make my decision to throw out my arms and run wildly down the decline.
8 comments:
If I had seen a centipede of that size either dead or alive in any light, I would probably have gone home.
I would throw out my arms and run wildly down the hills with you...but not on a windy day
s--In one of my alternate lives I study entomology. I don't forget to feed the larvae on the weekends.
m--running is especially fun on a windy day. I did literally catch my hat twice when it blew off my head.
I just really don't get your love for wind
Some time I'll write a long love letter about it for you. One thing is the way a meadowlark's song pierces the wind. When the wind is whistling in your ears and you can barely hear anything, somehow that sound comes through crystal clear. I don't even like birds :)
won't you love birds for the sake of the meadowlark's song across the wind...
they're disgusting creatures and i hate them all because they remind me i cannot fly without considerable effort and nearly infinite danger and the conviction over anger about flying jealousy reminds me of my other sins and this reinforces my previous unrighteous anger about flying and so the cycle continues unabated
but the meadowlark brings a moment of sharp perception on the trail and reminds me to really look...i do like that
i woke up one morning to the sound of a sparrow caught between the window screen and the glass when I was in jr high. It sounded just like "The Birds"(you know the Hitchcock movie). I'm pretty sure they all blame me for not helping it and its untimely death which I discovered after school. Plus, the crows in "The Omen" are super scary and you shouldn't watch those movies by yourself when you're six. But the meadowlark does give me pause.
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