Connecting with Nature

 Toe and I walked out our front door on Saturday and headed for the woods. We live in town, but Astoria has many amazing parks and vistas that allow even city dwellers (town dwellers? Our city has fewer than 10,000 people) to connect with nature within walking distance.

We walked past the cemetery and about a mile from our house, we entered the woods (in the park where J and I used to walk our dog; the park where we were married almost 15 years ago).

 We decided that day to go "off road" and took a small hiking trail off the main path.

 And finally we stopped for a small picnic. We sat against a tree and looked at the river and let the sights, sounds, smell, and the wonderful cool air surround us. I admit it, my real goal was to get Toe outside but keep him cool on such a warm day.

 We spent the afternoon at a leisurely pace, wandering where we wanted, stopping to look at slugs and butterflies and for rounds of Simon Says (I was with a six year old, after all).

This kind of slug is a helpful forest detritavore. Not a leaf-munching garden slug.

 And on the way home, we saw a mother deer with her two fawns. They were so young they still had their spots. Toe had to sit down on the sidewalk and just watch for a while.

Our view on the way home

The mother and her fawns

I've been seeing many reports lately about the benefit of interacting with nature. I can provide my personal testimony. Every day we have an outing like this, Toe and I come home relaxed and happy. The next morning I woke up happy and ready to face the world.