Don’t Ask, Walk!

“There is one path in the world that none can walk but you.  Where does it lead?  Don’t ask, walk!”
— Friedrich Nietzsche

Path at Discovery Park

 

 

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Handsome Paths

“And what a dynamic, handsome object is a path!”
— Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space:  The Classical Look at How We Experience Places

Path in Winslow down to the marina

I haven’t been out for a wilderness hike yet this year, but I have been enjoying some urban walks.  I love to go out with an open outlook and see what interesting things cross my path.  These pictures were taken on a recent outing to Bainbridge Island.  I couldn’t resist following this enticing green path down from the commercial center to the water.  And I was rewarded with a rare glimpse of a hummingbird!

Rhododendron

Daisies

Hummingbird and clover

 

Life as a Time of Approaching

National Poetry Month. 26

Path through Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle

Rhododendron

“I call ‘poet’ any writing being who sets out on this path, in quest of what I call the second innocence, the one that comes after knowing, the one that no longer knows, the one that knows how not to know.

I call ‘poet’ any writer, philosopher, author of plays, dreamer, producer of dreams, who uses life as a time of ‘approaching.'”
— Helene Cixous, “Coming to Writing” and Other Essays

 

It’s Little I Care

 

Path through Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle

Azalea bush along Azalea Way, Washington Park Arboretum

The siren call of spring . . .

“It’s little I care what path I take
And where it leads it’s little I care,
But out of this house, lest my heart break,
I must go, and off somewhere.”
—  Edna St. Vincent Millay

 

 

 

Finding Poetry in the Woods

Llandover Woods, north Seattle

“You cannot find what the poets find in the woods until you take the poet’s heart to the woods.  He sees nature through a colored glass, sees it truthfully, but with an indescribable charm added, the aureole of the spirit.  A tree, a cloud, a bird, a sunset, have no hidden meaning that the art of the poet is to unlock for us.  Every poet shall interpret them differently, and interpret them rightly, because the soul is infinite.”
— John Burroughs, Pepacton

I just learned about this little forest, Llandover Woods,  in north Seattle, not too far from the Dunn Gardens, and I spent an hour walking its groomed trail.  Splotchy bark, hanging moss, ferns, bare trees.  A quiet spot in the city.  Great discovery.

 

 

 

Frosty Mornings, the Gelid World

January morning at Green Lake

“How glorious the perfect stillness and peace of the winter landscape.”
—  Henry David Thoreau, from Winter:  The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, vol. 8, December 31, 1854

Path through the frosty grass, Green Lake

“We must go out and re-ally ourselves to Nature every day.  We must make root, send out some little fibre at least, even every winter day. . . . Staying in the house breeds a sort of insanity always.”
—  Henry David Thoreau, from Winter:  The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, vol. 8, December 29, 1856

I took Thoreau’s advice and walked around Green Lake on this frosty January morning.  It was crisp and clear.  I saw three great blue herons, a bald eagle perched in a tree, honking Canada geese, foraging ducks, and other Seattleites out to enjoy the fresh air.

Joggers at Green Lake

Fishing from the dock, bundled up, enjoying the natural world

One of three great blue herons (notice the frosty back feathers)

Day Trip to Whidbey Island: Hiking at Ebey’s Landing

Approaching Ebey’s Landing trailhead

“I leave this notice
on my door
For each accustomed
visitor:
I am gone into the fields
To take what this sweet hour yields.”
— Percy Bysshe Shelley

I take most of my out-of-town guests to Whidbey Island for hiking at Ebey’s Landing.  The journey itself is half the fun as it involves a ferry ride and a drive along country roads with old barns.

Old barn, Whidbey Island

Another old barn

Ferry viewed from the bluff at Ebey’s Landing

The hike itself is pretty spectacular no matter which season I take guests there. The trail is a pleasant loop, up a bluff, and then along the beach on the way back.  This past weekend the landscape was as green as I’ve ever seen it.

Stairs at the start of the hike

Notice the hikers (like ants) on the bluff and on the shore

The initial uphill stretch. The path soon levels off at the top of the bluff.

View of farmland from the bluff; so green

View from Ebey’s Landing

Lupine

Steep slope

Tree sculpted like bonsai

Wildflowers

Driftwood along the beach

The homeward stretch along the shore

Seaweed

Seaweed and rocks

Beach sculpture