BACK TO NATURE

I started a new online art class this week -- Alisa Burke's Ode to Nature. Our first assignment was just to get out and find ways to connect with nature. You don't have to live in the country to be able to do this. Even in the city there are parks and zoos and garden centers. Come to think of it, I was living in a Dallas suburb when I first got hooked, and one of my favorite places to hang out was old cemeteries. I had gone back to school to study horticulture, and was taking my trees class. As it turns out, old cemeteries are the very best places to find lots of big old specimens of a great variety of trees.

Lucky for me, it's uber easy to get in touch with nature where we live now. One day this week, I decided to skip my gym workout and go for a walk on the Hike 'n Bike instead. I love it when Hubby decides to join me. For one, that's the only time when it's safe for me to branch off from the main path onto all the little nature trails, because, unlike me, he can always find his way back.

That's how we discovered these cool picnic tables and barbecue pits, which I had never seen before.

Another good thing about having him along is that he sometimes grabs my camera and wades out into snakey-cactus-territory to snap a photo that I was going to pass up. Shortly after I moved up here by myself, a local woman went missing, her abandoned car found by the side of the road. When the police couldn't find any clues, they sent out Search & Rescue. They finally found her in some tall grass, not too far from her car, covered in snakebites. Apparently she was a wildflower lover who stepped in a snake nest by accident. Which is why I only walk in places where I can clearly see where my feet are going.

When we were driving towards the park that day we saw a big hand-drawn sign, pointing that way, that said T+L. When we got to the Blue Hole entrance, we were stopped by a park employee who asked if we were coming for the park or to swim. When we told her we were just there to walk the trail, she said "Fine, then, go ahead." We figured the swimming area must be closed for some private party, so we took the path that leads to the overlook, so we could spy on them. Guess what we found? A film crew!

They were filming some kids doing the rope drop into the river. Now I'm wondering if T+L didn't stand for Travel+Leisure magazine. Anywho, the best thing of all about having my hubby along was that I then had someone to share lunch with me afterwards at Inoz', which has a nice big deck overlooking Cypress Creek, where no one minds if you're a wee bit sweaty. Even if they had minded, they would have been too distracted that day, by the girl who spent so much time leaning over the porch rail, barfing into the area where the geese hang out. Poor geese.

Get it?