Took a Walk

The kids got invited to a birthday party, and I got to take a nature walk all by myself.  That hasn't happened in a loooong old time.

It's really different, doing nature all by myself. I liked it. And I missed the kids.  Before I had kids, I never used to have that problem. I went places and did things by myself, and it was fine. Now, even when I'm enjoying it, I'm thinking, "Oh, Hero would like that. It would be fun to show this to Peanut. That's where Dragon would be jumping." Funny how things change.

I never used to even see the little wildflowers. 

They're all over the place. Little gifts from Heaven.

The trail I was on is a little bit different habitat from where I'm usually birding. 

It's only a little different, but it sure made a difference in the birds I was hearing. 

But quite a few of the ones I know were there. I like that. It's a good feeling, knowing the critters that are around. My bird-friends were singing all over the place. And there was a bunch of little bitty frogs that I kept startling. They were too quick to hop into the underbrush, though, for me to get a picture of them. I ought to learn more about the frogs. They're cool.

  

Chickadees have been kind of scarce in my yard lately, but there were tons of them in the woods. I enjoyed watching them. They were behaving differently than they do in my yard, too. That's always interesting, watching old friends do new things in new places. Nature always has plenty to teach.

I heard some of the Clay-colored Sparrows that I recently figured out. They're cool; they sound a bit like bugs. Now that I know them, I smile whenever I hear them. They're shy, though; I've only seen them a handful of the times that I've heard them.

The flowers are still blooming, but this one shrub was already yellow, and the cicada song has switched from their early song to the late song. I'm seeing signs of Fall all over, and I'm having a hard time deciding how I feel about that. I feel much the same kind of ambivalence about my kids growing up. They're getting big enough to leave places, without a parent. Even Peanut. I'm slowly getting more "me time". Peanut has a long way to go, still; she's only 3. But Dragon is starting to prepare for his baptism in another 2 years. It'll be done and over so fast, he'll be baptized and preparing for the priesthood, like Hero is now, and I won't hardly know what hit me. Hero is already more than halfway to adulthood - he'll be 10 in September, and when he's doubled his age, he'll probably be nearly finished with his mission. Maybe have a sweet young thing on his mind.

It's a long way off, yet, but I'm realizing that this season of my life, like summer, isn't going to last forever. I suppose that's a good thing. To everything there is a season.

But I'm glad that it's summer now.