Off To The Woods To Reflect

   I am off to the woods to spend some time with my family, myself and nature. I love the roar of the silence in the woods which I always hear once I have left the sounds of my city life. We go to our little place in the woods where we bike, kayak, hike and swim. It is an active physical life up there which is a welcomed change from the active mental life I live at home. I have found that I need both. These two worlds keep me balanced. What I hope to do when I am there, besides play with our toys, is to let percolate all the wonderful things that I have learned while on the ecourse journey. I expect that I will see thing that I didn't when they were staring me in the face.

   When I am in the woods I make a conscious effort to try to look carefully to find what is hidden, a frog just poking it's eyes above the water, a deer slipping past, a humming bird trying to see if our bright red water container holds sweet nector. I like to slip into nature and that is why I love our tandum kayak. We can almost silently sneek up on the turtles sunning themselves on the rocks close to shore. Of course they always hear us and slide into the water before we get to close. But we keep trying. Once in a while when we are paddling we catch a turtle unaware just under the surface of the water. We watch as they quickly dart away from our big yellow boat.

   One of my other favorite activities is to ride my bike in the woods. I love feeling enveloped by the trees and moist air. When I ride I feel like a kid. No hill is too big to climb, no roots or rocks are too threatening to race over, no decent is too fast. I fly through the air on my bike as if infused with a mission. I feel happy and giddy with the freedom. So off I go...