more + more delights {18}

photo above taken here.

The Audubon* Center’s been on my list for many seasons — and I finally got there for a wander this week.

Plenty of cars were parked in the lot when I got there — along with a busload of kids in matching blue tee shirts. Despite the busy day there, I was delighted (and relieved!) to find a long, varied trail system — lengthy enough for getting lost’ish. And while I knew a nature center, study pavilions, and staff were nearby, I felt very much alone (and passed just one other person once I got on the trail):

I was at a standstill behind a family of geese (above). Water stood on both sides of that path, and the gander had no intentions of letting me pass. So I went at a gosling’s pace to avoid being chased into the drink.

I love the peaty forest floor that silenced my footsteps when I walked.

I’m a big fan of bridges — and there were many! On the long bridge (bottom, right) crossing the grassy wetland, I watched an indigo bunting fly like a stunt pilot in an airshow — which was a real treat. I wonder if his ‘presentation’ had anything to do with breeding season. He was hyped.

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I had 2 1⁄2 hours at the Audubon. (It was the last day of school; I had to pick up the ‘locker clean-out’ at 3.) Those hours and minutes, when plenty else needed doing, remind me of this fortune I keep in my wallet:

I love it when days…or hours…or minutes…feel expansive. Wonder-full. Invested, really. When I say, I’m so glad I did that. Or I’m so glad we finally did that. Or That felt like a two-hour vacation!

It’s why I keep my List of Seasonal Dreams. To keep joy and delight on my radar.

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The fullness of summer has been on my mind.

We’re in a stage of our lives when kids sort of…have their own lives! Jobs and teams and friends. Opportunities. Summer is earmarked with lots of good stuff. But — earmarked! Already. The wide open, expansive days sprinkled here and there…with our son going into his junior year, come fall — we’re not wealthy enough to waste them.

I’ll keep this in mind for my Summer Dreams ’24. Not to fill up the days. But to get lost in them, in all the good ways, before — poof!

*You may know there’s some ugly history behind this name. You can read more here.

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Do you have a favorite escape time feels slow and stretched? Where, for a few hours, you feel far and away?