Nature Lover

There is a huge difference between the average, every day, nature lover - like myself - and the fanatic. I truly love Nature. I enjoy nothing so much as hiking woods or fields - or cliffs, if I'm luck enough to be in California, breathing the fresh, wonderful air, viewing flora and fauna, water and countryside, listening to the birdsong and all the other marvelous music of the out-of-doors. (You do understand, I am now speaking theoretically, since I am no longer really able to do these things.) But occasionally I have made the mistake of joining a group led by people like the head of this or that local organization. Uh-uh. These people make me feel very ill at ease. I start believing that I'd better listen carefully and be sure to remember it all - there may be a test later. No. I would much rather wander along in my own quiet, uninformed way, appreciating what God put here for me to see, and put me here to see. I want to thank Him, not Mr. or Ms. So-and-So from the organization.


Please don't misunderstand. I am grateful for those organizations and those good people who have learned so much more than I about the names of birds and flowers and their habitat and habits. I do like to learn about them myself, from books or the internet, or in conversation one-on-one. It's just that when I am out there, I just want to be there - me and Mother Nature, peacefully absorbing it all. At times like that I don't want instruction. I want to be allowed to discover things on my own rather than having my attention drawn to this or that. I want the adventure and excitement of finding it for myself.


Can't do so much of it these days, but Hugo and I do manage once in a while. God bless whoever invented the Hugo. Without that walker I'd be stuck in the house and have to rely on my computer to show me the Great Outdoors.