Two Waters

Day 142: Forget laughter as the best medicine. For me, the most potent restorative is Nature, or as I'm more likely to express it, "Out." When things weigh heavily on my mind or when the aches and pains of age begin to reflect in my disposition, I opt for a dose of Out. I've spent a lot of this week Out (albeit close to home). Don't let the sunny sky fool you. It's cold out there and rather breezy, so my ventures Out have been limited to the brief window of above-freezing temperatures from late morning and mid-afternoon. Out, I can shut off the internal dialog and simply BE, and while that doesn't change a thing, it makes it easier to bear when the world closes in on me again.

Today, I went Out to the confluence of little Ohop Creek and the Nisqually River. It was a short hike for me, a little over three miles total. Only one Pacific Wren and one Black-Capped Chickadee shared the walk with me. It was too early for Caddis-fly "periwinkles" in the creek, too early even for the grass to be greening, although one dandelion's yellow eye stared up at me as I strode by. Nodding inflorescences of Indian-plum showed only winks of white between their sepals, hinting at Spring but still too shy to make a statement. The river rambled on, its rush of conversation drowning the whisper of the creek, and before I'd learned their secrets, it was time to turn toward warmth and home.