I'm back!

I am back from my unscheduled hiatus! With luck, regular posting shall resume shortly.

It recently came to my attention that although I have not made it out to my favorite wooded area once this year, I have still spent more time outside than I probably have in years. But all that time has been spent on my bicycle. It's a different form of communion with nature than I am used to -- less tactile, for instance, as I can not reach out and caress the foliage (yes, I do that). But in other ways, I have become far more tuned to the seasons that I have ever been before. Since I have been riding my bicycle to work almost every day for a year now, I know about every subtle shift in the temperature. I am far more sensitive to impending rain. I have a better feeling for when the sun rises and sets. All of this is good and important, and I'm grateful to have this experiential knowledge. That said, I still miss the intimacy of walking through the woods and feeling the ground beneath my feet, or running water around my toes. With luck, I'll manage to get some of that this autumn, before the snow comes back and has us all running for hibernation again.