Yesterday was incredible. Just an amazing experience in the natural world. After an morning inside on a gorgeous sunny day, I decided to go outside. Lo and behold, Nick and Kate arrived at that very minute. So we took to the woods and I showed them my sit spot!
A note about the sit spot... it should be a secret :) I should not have shown them where it was, but I will soon be moving away from this spot. Thus, I felt like it was a nice opportunity for me to show them the sit spot which has sustained me for the past couple months. So we explored my sit spot and it took them no time at all to wander around the area examining all sorts of things.
I am not sure what they got into, but I re-explored a hollowed out snag with super fine wood shavings inside. I was curious if the material was dry or wet and if it had changed much. It felt like soft powder sand as I rubbed it between my forefinger and thumb. Then I sat down to listen to the birds.
Suddenly I found a millipede crawling on my thigh. It was really cool but I couldn't lean down to analyze my thigh with my hand-lens... I'm not that flexible! Carefully I shifted the 29-legged critter (per side) to a leaf and then held it up so I could count all of those legs! Then it wriggled back under some foliage and I went exploring trees and mosses.
That adventure continued on for another hour. I have great friends and we really seized the day.
Nick joined me for adventure number two. It was in search for a pair of sunglasses that I lost on November 10th as some kids were chasing me into the forest at Arroyo Park. It was mission impossible. I had the feeling that the search would give me a peace of mind though I also embraced that the sunglasses were probably lost forever. Nick led the charge up a steep muddy, boggy thicket of thorny shrubs and downed limbs of Bigleaf Maple. Not the easiest approach. I told him I would go around the other way and found it be less muddy... sorry Nick!
Eventually we made it to the spot where I hid from the boys... we then worked back toward the trail from my approach. We had been searching for 10 minutes, making our way slowly downhill. We lifted leaf matter, decomposing forest elements, and moved things around to get a better look. I got down to scout underneath a log and Nick asked me if I had found anything yet. I looked up and saw my sunglasses on his head! Over three months later and they had been found!!
The rubber arm-ends and bits of the nose piece had been chewed by a small rodent. The lenses are probably done for. But the treasure was found! Nick found black sunglasses by noticing small bits of the frame undersides and the arms. It was actually covered by leaves! Nick's powers of observation are incredible. It became mission possible!
Adventure number three began on our walk back to the car when Nick mentioned Post Point. It is a small spit of land south of Fairhaven on Bellingham Bay. After enjoying four hours outside on arguably the prettiest day of the year so far, we reveled in two more during our walk along the coast. Highlights include sticking my head into a sandstone hole and talking... it was like being in my own world. The sounds amplified all around in the near-perfect half-spherical hole. And when Nick did it, I only heard the muffled murmurs of his voice. That was cool.
Then we got into the tide pools. Good tidepooling is never boring. While unfortunately crushing countless barnacles and other shelled creatures, and probably popping some anemones, we saw so much life. Barnacles, limpets, clams, mussels, sea anemones, and HUGE PURPLE SEA STARS! They were suctioned into the cracks of rock close to the shoreline. The water lapped against rocks and sprayed salty mist into those fissures but the sea stars remained still. They remained royal purple with white speckles and lines that made the legs really stand out. We counted over 15 in one small crevice and well over 35 in total. I hadn't seen those in years but they really put a smile on my face.
We picked up trash nearly all day and cleaned up this small bit of coastline too. I laughed at the coincidence when thinking about the story of the man who threw washed-up sea stars back into the ocean to save their lives. When told he couldn't make a difference, the man threw one into the ocean, looked at the naysayer and said, "Made a difference to that one." I picked up another empty beer can and congratulated myself for making a difference. We can all make a difference every single day!
The day ended with sunset, walking in and around a rock labyrinth next to the railroad tracks. The temperature dropped and my hands were numb as we headed back to the car. Six hours outside. Making a difference in the world. Aware and alive to embrace and appreciate nature. We all have this opportunity to some extent in our lives to do this. Thank you, Nick, for your influence on this day. You made a difference in my world.
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