Sometimes I feel like I am shouting (my metaphor for writing) into the wind. Therefore, when I get a reply of any kind on my blog, I like it. It is nice to know people are reading my weekly posts, even if the knowing is sometimes coming from a not-so-nice comment or an unsubscribe.
Blogging Since 2004
There is a reason I am probably the longest running blogger in Little Rock, maybe even in all of Arkansas. IT IS HARD and takes a lot of discipline. Now there is a word: discipline, a word I wouldn’t usually put in the same sentence with myself.
It was 2004 when these two smart-and-techy young men (who, if had been born in Silicon Valley, would be billionaires now) explained to me what a blog is and why I should write one. From their urging, I became an early adopter to the blog idea. Thanks to Microsoft Word I have learned what I didn’t learn in school: sentence structure. The downside of WORD’s fabulous spell check feature is I’ve become a lazy speller. On the upside, I learned I’d been spelling many words wrong, forever! Does everything in life have a yin and yang?
This Week’s Blog
For this week’s blog I was torn between writing about the benefits of tree hugging or my weekend trip to Lake Hamilton with the girls.
Then I decided the subjects are parallel because they are both grounded in nature.
At Lake Hamilton, my girlfriends and I gabbed, ate, drank, boated, floated on rafts, stared at the stars, and listened to bird calls. I learned about the Merlin Bird app, a free download from Cornel School of Ornithology that can identify the birds chirping around you by sound.
Back home, sitting on my front porch in the morning, Merlin told me there was a Northern Cardinal, House Sparrow, American Robin, Blue Jay, and Wren nearby. This is when I got up and went to the big Elm Tree, home to many birds in my yard, and hugged it. I wrapped my arms around it and overtly pressed my ear to its bark. In doing so, I almost jumped at the spiritual surge that went through my body. I did it again and, this time, I stayed in the hug. I know you are going to think this sounds crazy, but there was more weirdness than just hugging a tree. In words, the weirdness that comes to mind is “ancient wisdom” and “centering.”
Now, maybe it is just my tree. You may remember from an earlier blog this tree almost died from Dutch Elm disease. To save her, I pulled out all the stops. I ceased using broadleaf weed killer on my grass (according to the Pulaski County Extension office, trees are in that broadleaf family), I hired an arborist to inject nutrients into her trunk and, to leave no stone unturned, I called my spiritual leader to perform a blessing of the tree and sprinkle her with holy water while my friends and I walked around the tree, chanting like druids.
Preservation of Our Nature
This love and need of the outdoors are why I recently wrote a blog about my disapproval of the First Gentleman’s plan to promote the economics of tourism in Arkansas. It was one of those blogs where some people unsubscribed thinking it was too political. I disagree that it was political because I am not promoting or “dissing on” a party. I am writing about the business of tourism. And in that blog, I gave my honest opinion about the unforeseen costs of selling the natural state’s precious outdoor amenities. Strangers from out of state, pushing us out of our lakes and rivers does not seem like a good idea for the sanity of the citizens of Arkansas.
After glamping on Lake Hamilton, listening to the birds in my neighborhood, and hugging an old tree, I hold even more to my conviction of preserving nature. Again, to be totally honest, maybe I am just being selfish and not wanting to share.
Anyway, try hugging a tree, but don’t let anyone see you, lest they think you’re crazy. The benefits are beyond words.
And give me some feedback. Is anyone reading?
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