The natural world, life, and dogs.
Such a pretty word, serendipity. Tickles the lips and tongue to say it. Yet it's the word's meaning and its occurrence in life that's truly delightful. The fact of finding interesting or valuable things by chance.Cambridge Dictionary A happy coinage by Horace Walpole to denote the faculty of making lucky and unexpected 'finds' by accident.… Continue reading Serendipity
I’ve been wrestling with myself. A fierce internal battle for over three weeks now, and I’m exhausted. Should I write about “the incident” I hinted about in my last post? Or try to let it recede into my psychic background, let it die from lack of oxygen? And if I do write about it, how?… Continue reading Fear and Anger: A Toxic Mix
Ah. This - procrastinating - is something I'm good at! "To put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done."Merriam-Webster Dictionary In the first comprehensive English dictionary, Dr. Samuel Johnson defined procrastinate with a single word: delay. But there's much more to it, an underlying reason for the delay, whether anxiety, wishful thinking,… Continue reading Procrastinating
A drop in temperature, into the zone well below freezing, brought frost, highlighting bits of the natural world that would otherwise remain obscure. Spider webs. I started this recent morning walk with my dogs thinking my phone camera would remain in my pocket, that there wouldn't be anything new or interesting to photograph. I was… Continue reading Webs
A note: This post is a departure from my usual efforts. While this essay does reflect on “the natural world, life, and dogs,” the themes of my Wild Sensibility blog, the recent event prompting it entails much sorrow: the sudden, tragic accidental death of my brother. This post describes my initial steps on the long… Continue reading In the Blink of an Eye
Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower. Albert Camus Change. Adapting. Each day, week, month, season, year, brings something new and evolving, something challenging, a change anticipated or maybe not, but necessary to absorb in order to move forward. My life-long mantra: Change is good. Change may not always feel good… Continue reading Everything Changes
When stress starts accumulating, when my headaches worsen and the frustrations of daily living become challenging to bear, I spend even more time in nature. Being out in the forest, surrounded by the natural world, always, unfailingly, settles and soothes me. After several days earlier this month of forced hiding indoors to avoid hazardous levels… Continue reading The Natural World Taps Me on the Shoulder
The bird has flown its nest and it is free to fly the skies of the world. The birds are gone. Well, most of the songbirds, anyway. I’m surprised how sad this makes me. This is the first summer I’ve taken an interest in any migratory birds other than the tree swallows who nest in… Continue reading Naturalism: The Birds Have Left
This weekend would normally have seen me traveling with my dogs from my home in central Idaho to the central part of Washington state. It’s a long drive, eight or nine hours each way, a trip I would only undertake for a special reason. Dog camp. My dog camp is why I make that taxing… Continue reading Dog Camp: Creating Family
Animal sentience is generally defined as the ability to feel, perceive, be conscious, or to experience subjectivity. The word “sentience” comes from the Latin verb sentire, which means “to feel.” The RSPCA Australia (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) Knowledge Base website has a good definition that’s easily understood: Animal sentience is… Continue reading Altruism
Wild Sensibility 