I don’t often get true adventures any more because my life is quite tame. I get the day-to-day adventures, of course, such as getting up in the morning (it’s not something everyone can do), or going out to shovel snow, or seeing the changes in my yard during the different seasons. But compared to the adventures I once had, such as hiking in the woods or taking long road trips, my adventures are small.
I certainly don’t deal with nature in the raw very often, generally out of laziness. I mean, when the weather gets wild (and yes, weather is considered nature), I could go outside but . . . well, I don’t.
Walking to and from work is the one time where I go out no matter what the weather is. For a while, I got to walk in the dark (well, quasi dark — there are plenty of streetlights between our two houses, and I carried a flashlight for the darkest nights), and I truly enjoyed that. I don’t drive at night, and I generally don’t like going for a walk in the dark, and being out in the dark in the summer is more “nature” than I want to deal with. Too many mosquitoes! Though maybe, before the mosquitoes come this summer, I’ll spend some dark time out in my yard.
Last night was a treat, a real adventure, short though it may have been. We got a huge amount of snow, and it was COLD! The women I work for wanted to drive me home, and were almost insistent, so I agreed, but when I got outside, I simply could not forgo the small adventure of walking home in the crackling cold. The temperature was close to zero, and what appeared to be a few flurries of snow was actually the humidity in the air freezing.
It was lovely — so quiet and still, with only the muffled sound of an occasional vehicle in the distance.
There will come a time, I am sure, when I couldn’t trust that I would be okay even for such a short time in extreme weather, so I especially enjoyed last night’s experience of nature in the raw.
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What if God decided S/He didn’t like how the world turned out, and turned it over to a development company from the planet Xerxes for re-creation? Would you survive? Could you survive? Would you even want to?
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Bertram's Blog 
January 27, 2021 at 9:55 pm
It hasn’t been much above 0°F for some time here. I find I have to get outside pretty much daily, or I feel unwell, regardless of the cold. In some ways, the cold is actually better. The skies tend to clear, and I don’t end up playing covid pinball with so many people on my walks. The sun dogs today were lovely.
January 28, 2021 at 11:05 am
You’re braver than I am! After ten years of living in the desert, the cold intimidates me. I used to walk in all weather, but not now. I’m hoping by next winter I’ll be more acclimated to winter so that I can spend more time outside. I’ve only seen a sun dog once in my life; maybe again someday!