Wet Wanderings

We’ve had clouds and showers over the last few days, but I’ve tried to resist my impulse to hide inside. On Sunday I went for a walk all by myself. A rare happening indeed.

Sometimes, I feel like I’ve lost myself. I do what is needed of me, but if asked, “What do you want to do?” I have no answer. My husband occasionally asks me this, not in the sense of “What do you want to do to amuse yourself” but more “What do you think God’s calling on your life is.” I went for the walk thinking I could pray and think, but mostly I just looked around and enjoyed what I saw. And I felt unnerved by, and eventually peaceful in, the absolute absence of any other human voices.

I woke in the middle of the night afterward thinking, “What are you, crazy? What if you met some ill-intentioned character all by yourself in the woods?” I have a fearful spirit that I despise at times.

Really, though I enjoyed the walk, it’s more fun with the girls along. They can be noisy; there’s little hope of sneaking up on wildlife. But they are good companions, and always they are extremely enthusiastic.

Yesterday, we visited a nearby Nature Center we’ve never been to. We saw all manner of fascinating displays, stuffed (real) animals, and historic notes. Carried away by the spirit of the place, I bought an owl pellet for $1.00 to examine… sometime. Then we went out to the other building and visited the raptors.

Ah, but today. Today was amazing. Today, we visited a marsh a stone’s throw from where we’ve driven a hundred times, but we never realized it was there till yesterday.

That lump out there is a beaver house. Here, I’ll show you.

(*Edited to add: my dad tells me these mystery birds are probably immature robins, whose tails develop last.)

It was a great time on a drizzly day. The only down side was seeing gruesome evidence of the food chain: a deer skeleton, with some of the hide still left. Coyotes? Dogs? Poor thing. Fortunately we saw a live deer too, briefly. That’s the one we attempted a picture of.

I must have jiggled the camera. Let’s call this the “watercolor effect,” okay?

This whole place is between a railroad track on one side, a couple of factories on the other, and city streets on the others. It’s just amazing to me. And it makes me wonder, again, how much of life I’m driving past without even knowing what I’m missing. This place is not at all a secret. I’m glad we stumbled upon it at last.