May 21, 2027

I most definitely love an awe inspiring vista and thoroughly enjoy the physicality of powering through a challenging climb.  I for sure enjoy experiencing new trails and destinations.  I don’t mind motoring for hours to reach a trek’s starting point. That being said, I’m here to tell you that this Walking Fool can get maximum joy on a foray to a local park, forest, beach, neighborhood or even a long walk to Fred Meyer or the PCC (Puget Consumers Co-op)!

The only thing repetitous about retraced steps are the actual routes.  I am easily intoxicated by the real time fragrances of blooms, vegetation and earth, regardless of season.  My heart swells when I hear a frog, or better yet – a cacophony of several!  Bird songs beautifully varied and the signature call of a flicker, eagle or woodpecker delight my ears – and even the seagulls and crow calls put a smile on my face!

And I’m not nearly articulate enough to justly describe the multitude of textures, gradations of colors, the filtered, dappled rays of light, sunrises/sunsets/cloud formations/storms, myriad of shapes, abstractness of feathers, feelers and creature feet!!  Leaves, blades of grass, wisps of spent growth, berries and hopping bunnies greet me by the eyeful!!  

And don’t EVEN get me started about tree bark!!  Or tree roots, stones or shells!  OH MY!!!

“Outdoors we are confronted everywhere with wonders; we see that the miraculous is not extraordinary, but the common mode of existence.” -Wendell Berry

“I felt inside of me, while I was walking, a heart so full that life could have left me then.”

-Albert Camus, Notebooks