Not in ever, but today was my first drive-out since my accident and recovery. Under the laws of my State if a driver has a medical emergency of a certain type while driving, they must relinquish their driving privileges for six months. The first two months were spent in the hospital and recovering at home. But whether it is six months or four months, for someone like myself who is used to the freedom that a car gives; it was a long time.
Although I could get rides to the store or the doctor, I could not drive myself to the park for a morning walk or to the woods for a hike.
But today, the six months were done, and I could get into my car and drive myself out to the woods and fields beyond my City for a walk.
You may have noticed that I have not characterize the length or the intensity of my walk or hike. Right now, that is not what matters. I am preparing myself once again for a long hike. So, I need to engage in re-conditioning. I am preparing for a mountainous hike; a hike with both length and intensity. But I have to start with a simple walk in fields and wooded hills. I will build up to the longer, more arduous hike. My preparation is physical, and it is mental – and perhaps also spiritual.
My walk today, through woods and open fields, was my first in six months. And the drive by myself out to these woods was also my first in six months. My first drive-out was for my first walk-out. A drive in my car should not be just for the drive itself. In these days of changing climate, my drive should have a higher purpose. Each of us must be aware of and reduce our impact on the atmosphere which is driving the changing climate of our Earth. Does my simple drive out to the woods tip the scales? I don’t think so. But I must be aware that my short drive, added to your short drive, plus his and her short drives, multiplied by several billion short drives, has a significant, multiple, negative impact on the atmosphere and on the climate of our world.
But I consider my drive worthwhile. For me it is part of my physical, mental, and spiritual recovery. My walk took me back into familiar patterns and into familiar places. I walked down to the foot bridge that crosses a stream that can swell in rainy weather, but is now a wandering rivulet. My return path took me past the small wetland that resides on the back side of the upward slope of a hill. On its upward slope the hill is covered in grasses and wild flowers. It is a browsing ground for the local white-tailed deer. At a point on the far side where the woods line the open field, a stream enters from the woods. This stream on the lower part of the hill has created a wetland. The wetland resides on both sides of the the course of the meandering stream. Horse Tails and Broom Sedge dot the wetland among the other wet grasses. It is is bordered with the last of the late summer flowers, Red Clover and Queen Anne’s Lace, along its margins.
My path takes me from hill top to stream to wetland to hilltop.
It was a grand, first walk-out.
The art work is from pictures I captured this morning. In it my shadow is superimposed on red clover (an introduced fodder plant) in the field.
There is also a picture of the Chinese Chestnut at the hill top.
Wetland plants identification using https://plants.usda.gov/core/wetlandSearch