Christmas Walk

This post might also be titled How You Know You Have Too Much Time on Your Hands if only because this little ‘project’ amused me mightily. In fact, I’m still grinning about it and hope it will make others, people I don’t even know, smile too.

Let’s begin. By and large, I’m a sloth but recently I’ve started taking nature walks 3 days a week to help deal with stress and my inability to sleep. It was either that or coerce my doctor into writing a Vicodin prescription which would mean arm wrestling her and she’s mean. So, I’ve been taking these lovely jaunts through a wetlands nature preserve near the library where I volunteer.

Now we’re going to get corny…I really love it. There are few, if any, other people, the landscape changes from stream to pond to marsh to open space with bamboo, cat tails, pine trees, holly and tall grasses. I’ve heard a rooster (no idea where he lives) and seen muskrats and a snake (and didn’t scream or throw rocks).

Every time I walk I see something new and beautiful. I feel gratitude and contentment. With the holidays going full swing I decided I wanted to give back a little something to this wild place. I’m not going to get into some metaphysical dissertation but I believe everything alive likes to feel appreciated and maybe with something more than my whispered thanks at the end of each walk. Because even though they may not be commercially grown or aesthetically perfect all of these trees are alive and trying. They’ve weathered winds and floods, soil erosion and stupid people (carrying that empty beer bottle to the nearest trash can is exhausting) and still continue to grow and try to thrive. After this year I know what that’s like. It’s tiring and to have some recognition of how amazing you are means a lot. And if it makes you feel pretty with a little bit of bling even better.

Here is: Thank You to My Favorite Place

Lanky dude- I had to bend the branch to get the ornament up there but neither he or I were hurt.

This guy wins the Charlie Brown award- look at that big bright tree behind him and he's well...just not quite there yet.

A fringed sleeve pointing

I love the creek that runs through the preserve and really wanted to see a splash of color working its way along. Before you get in a snit, its not litter- I scooped it out after the photo.

Just a lovely mossy branch, a shiny globe, and the lunatic who thought it would be fun to decorate the trees.

The End.

If you’re near Fanno Creek in Tigard, Oregon anytime in the next few weeks look around. Pay attention. You might find even more beauty than you expected. I always do.