THE NEED
To Catch Up With Nature

Someone must have poisoned our dreams because we woke up this morning with a need to hike. It could be that the warm sunshine yesterday or a new wool shirt or the way we talked about how much we wanted to go camping made us want to do it. Anyway it seemed unbearable to spend another free day of our lives in our dingy manufactured cave: a big breakfast with coffee and a long hike was just what we needed.

Out on the trail there were lots of signs of old mining shafts, domestic animals and squalling babies. We passed lots of tired little hikers and thought about how someday we will be hiking with our own little family. We talked about sustainable living: how Chinese farmers used to turn old clothes into felt which they used to make shoes. And we liked the way the old mining shafts and waterways on Cougar Mountain can be part of a man-made wilderness which is catching back up with nature.

Today seems like the first day of spring, but we think it’s just the way the winter is in Seattle. There is so much water and so many bursting clouds that it’s hard for things to die. Anyway, the trees are blooming, showing us newness and beauty.