Among the greatest of all the many lessons I learned from My Very Old Dog came during our early evening walks. As he aged to a point of fragility, I had to focus all my attention on watching him, in case he stumbled or needed some help. I stopped taking along my Android.
After about a week of this, something simple but extraordinary occurred. I heard “conversations” between various types of birds which had previously been background “noise.” Different kinds of sage and other native bushes and flowers, even different varieties of freshly-cut grasses were no longer smells but fragrances.
I noticed that my ability to practically zero in an a distant object became more acute. I found myself returning home refreshed, relaxed, connected and somehow more whole.
Even though he’s now gone and I no longer have those walks, I’ve made time to grab what I came to think of as a “Peace of Green.”
It’s simply a walk into the closest area where there is all green, where there is not within sight any other person or anything manufactured.
Here is a “peace of green” which I taped during a visit to Fredericksburg, Virginia in a forest abutting the Rappahanock River. It helped me.
Perhaps this short “peace of green” will relax you too – even from a tablet, phone, laptop or PC.
In the weeks ahead, there will be other “peace of green” videos from other parts of the country.
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- Virginia Vacations (socyberty.com)
- My Personal Recipe for Peace (writersite.org)
Categories: Nature, Regionality
Tags: forest, Fredericksburg Virginia, Nature, Virginia
Glad you got to step away from all the busyness of daily life. “I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” ~John Burroughs – Look forward to the next “peace of green” video.
Wow – it’s refreshing even to just know how many others find it refreshing to step back into the world which is truly the “real” one – and frustrating to realize also how we all now have to schedule time to simply do this. Appreciate your writing.
As an artist, nature has always inspired me to do my best work. Living near a forest , I have meet so many wonderful kindred folks who live there, such as a mother bear and her cubs, 2 baby squirrels who were playing on a tree trunk and stopped to look at me inquisitedly or a large lazy turtle slowly inching its way across the road, to name a few.
Reading three times what you wrote about all those wonderful animals seemed to actually transport me right there. Thank you for the word picture of that Peace…..and very sorry for the delayed response. Work back up!
I was feeling agitated about a couple of things until I watched and listed to the video and was brought instantly back to my own love of that part of Virginia, and to the mystery and solace of nature in general. I’ve been thinking of taking a quiet meditative walk along some trails I shared only with my now lost Bika, and what you’ve said here encourages me not to wait. I won’t have my current dogs along–they’re the canine equivalent of three highly active Androids!–and I plan to listen and experience intently.
We are so much alike – I still like to walk where I once did with Yeager. And somehow a walk in the green, silent save for the permanent residents there, is enhanced by a dog companion, but I found out not long after he left, it still wasn’t bad to do even alone. In fact, it is the place where I find myself able to best grasp all that seems ineffable. Thank you so much for writing – you seem to frequently confirm the way I feel about these elements of the “package” which simply come with an existence here but which most people consider useless.
We really are ‘kindred spirits’ in many ways, I think. So much of what you say rings true for me, and that means a lot. Your ‘all that seems ineffable’, for example, and the reference to those things ‘which most people consider useless’ are fine ways of expressing realities I’ve often considered but never put into such accurate words as you have here. The astonishingly dense fabric of birdsong in the video is remarkable, by the way. I really got drawn into it.
Well first of all great apologies for the delayed response. And yes, the words on these websites and blogs is perhaps the ideal way for fellow-thinking wordsmiths to find kindred spirits – in ways that ring so authentically. I have been lucky in the few “Peace of Green” videos which I have made thus far that the birds all just seemed to come out and shout loudly – and constantly!
I’ve walked down those silent paths, too, smelling natural all around me and heard the sounds of birds chattering non-stop. I sometimes wonder what they are saying to each other.
Hey there Mary – it is fascinating isn’t it when you begin to recognize they are communicating in a pattern – an even more mysterious species than my all-time favorites…the dogs. I saw a PBS special last year on crows and it was astounding, shocking really to see the new research on their behavioral and communication patterns which show them to be so far more intelligent and aware of humans than we ever realized. Thanks for writing.
Yes, patterns are fascinating. I believe it’s possible to communicate will all animals on an ESP level, if only we will take time to stop, listen and be aware. Here’s just one example of a clip you might find interesting about a horse:http://marygilmartin.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/writing-memory-stories-horse-in-the-pasture/
Mary that is phenomenal – and so much in just a few words and crisp, vivid pictures. That’s an art compared to my endless ramblings. And ironic of all is that the reason I have been delayed in responding to several reader comments is the piece which will post today – about a peculiarly similar topic…with dogs. Many thanks for your patience – and talent.
You’re welcome and thanks for your comment. Life is good and look forward to more of your postings.