MY NATURE WALK

Departing from my Normandy Park residence.

Hello America.

My favorite neighborhood bear.

Nature is where I feel at peace.

Moss is found on every living tree. It depends on them.

Life surrounds the dead.

An old rope hangs from the branch. A relic of an iconic neighborhood swing. Memories of thrills and excitement are all that are left.

Old shoes are necessary; they will get dirty.

Finally on the long trail.

So much effort goes into protecting nature. I value all the effort they give.

A small stream. In it exists so much life that our eyes can never see and our minds will never know of. Life exists on every scale.

This bench is an attempt to get people to reflect on their surroundings. It worked for me when I sat on it. Time disappeared while I rested. 

The carelessness of humans. No animal in the world behaves like we do.

Nature selfie. A warm coat is necessary in the winter season. Cut sticks lie on the ground.

Bicycle tracks. Nature being enjoyed by humans. Marks being left.

A detrimental addition to the nature trail. A necessity for humans.

Nature trail information. A great source of knowledge about the complex things that exists outside of human involvement.

One of my favorite places. I can imagine every detail, every trail.

This makes me imagine the glory of the stream before things were built on top of it.

Routed underneath the roads. These pipes used to be one of the most exciting play area for my friend Alex and I when we were children.

We would swim in the water. Splash around in the stream. Challenge ourselves to crawl through the pipes to the other side. We didn't care about getting dirty or running into spiders. We wanted adventure. I'll remember that forever when I come to this place. 

A water tank we used to stand on and play on.

About five years ago the stream became protected. The stream was long and led all the way down to the beach. Seeing salmon was a rare sight but they did swim further down stream.

A great storm many years ago took out a ton of trees in the park. It tore down more than ten large trees, revealing the roots and foundation of the large plants.

Deep in the woods, Alex, William, and I made our names permanent on one of our favorite trees. We did this many years ago and I believe it will last a very long time.

Back on the surface. The neighborhood in which I grew up.

A lamp I've walked past countless times. It makes me want to know exactly how many times I've crossed it.

The sign outside my house. There are no kids on my driveway anymore. Everyone has grown up. Soon none of us will even live on the road. We'll be off living our own lives. How long will the sign last after we leave? I'm convinced nobody even reads the sign or thinks about how relevant it is. Maybe a future family will own one of the three houses on the driveway and find the sign useful.