I heard a piece on NPR about the effects of nature on moods of people dealing with hard things. I have to agree that spending time in nature can help a lot. My lunch activity today was a nice walk along our road in search of peace.
As I walked, I was repeatedly reminded that humans aren’t the only important things on earth and that life and death will go on regardless of whether I’m there or not. That actually did make me feel more peaceful and part of something bigger than myself.
The highlight of my walk was finding dozens of black swallowtail caterpillars on one prairie parsley plant. I watched those little guys noshing away for a long time. I forgot all my sadness about community events for a while!
I enjoyed all the flowers I saw, and the butterflies. Even the trees were beautiful. What a nice break.
I didn’t see many birds but heard lots. I spotted a painted bunting by hearing it first. Um. You couldn’t ID it from this!
From the listening app I heard:
- Dickcissel
- Robin (rare here)
- Barn swallows
- English sparrow (zzz)
- Painted bunting (lots)
- Cardinals
- Mockingbird (also pretended to be a blue jay)
- Starlings
- Tufted titmouse
- House finch
- Killdeer
- Carolina wren
- Song sparrow
- Cowbird
- Phoebe
- Carolina chickadee
- Common yellow throat (only saw that once ever)
- Nighthawk (also saw two)
- Scissor tail
- Baltimore oriole (wow)
That’s a lot of birds! The vultures didn’t make any noise, but were there, too.
Not only did nature make me feel more at peace, but my friends did, too. I enjoyed my afternoon coffee with two friends, Anita and Pamela. We laughed over my high school diaries that I found yesterday and discovered were mostly in Spanish. Then we shopped at the new antiques store downtown. I was happy to see there were many customers! I got a giant piece of purple glass for my window.
After that we sat on a bench overlooking the town square, wondering how we ever ended up in Cameron, Texas and enjoying it. Fun times. I’m glad for the supportive friends I’ve finally accumulated here!
Topping the day off with a horse ride and swim in the pool brought balance back, at least for now. I hope you also find your own balance.
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