I love walking in the woods with my dogs. Seeing them move to and fro, the way they take in the sights and multitude of smells, the way they 'happy trot' down a path. Ever notice how quietly dogs tread through the woods? Minus the occasional stick snap they are almost completely silent making their way. I used to plod my way through trails... now I step lightly and slowly and deliberately. When you do that, when you become so very aware of everything... I am able to take in the sights of ferns unfurling, the shelf mushrooms and moss, the sounds of a trickling brook, and the leaves rustling overhead. And oh, the deep woods smells... a scent that I could never describe adequately... lush, a green carpet of moss, wet bark and pine needles. There is a great pleasure to be found walking in the woods with dogs.
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
ReplyDelete-Henry David Thoreau