I love taking walks by myself.   It gives me time to get lost in thoughts while nature feeds my soul.  I realized yesterday evening how much nature energizes me, while I sat looking at the trees sway in the wind and watched the birds flutter and sing in our yard.   I could have sat there for hours! Growing up, I didn’t give nature much thought.  It was just there.  Now I get excited to look out my bedroom window each morning to see if the trees in the forest are getting greener. Am I getting old?

This afternoon I found myself taking a different path for my walk, which took me through a farmer’s field.  I vaguely recall biking through it with Hubby last summer when my sister was visiting, but it didn’t seem all that familiar to me.  I love it here in Germany where they deliberately create paths through fields, and invite you to walk them.  They even place benches and picnic tables along the way that whisper come sit with us.

When I turned the corner on the dirt path, my eyes were suddenly dazzled by a sea of brilliant yellow – I had stumbled upon a Canola field.  Such an amazing sight.  And, surprise, surprise, there sat  a bench and table to take in the view.  I made a mental note to myself to come back.

I continued my walk up a hill that led to train tracks with a paved lane for crossing over them.  Even though I couldn’t see a train in sight from either direction, I still felt nervous crossing over to the other side, and relief when I arrived.  The path then led me into a forest with signs on the trees asking you to have manners and leave the wildlife alone in their peaceful environment.  Then I got thinking about what wildlife they are referring to, reminding myself that I was all alone in this forest, and hoped they would mind their manners for me too.

The end of the forest path was a paved road that I didn’t feel like walking on, preferring to keep my walk on a path free of vehicles whizzing by.  So I turned around and re-walked my steps toward home.  Along the way, I suddenly had this urge to share all this beauty around me, including the bright yellow canola field and the thrill of walking across train tracks.  So when I arrived home, I convinced Little T to join me on a bike ride. Rather, I bribed him with a chocolate bar after my attempt to describe all the beautiful things we would see along the way ended up with his arms criss-crossed firmly around his chest, scowl on his face, while kicking the floor shouting “No!”  When it comes to any sort of activity that is physical, Little T is rather lazy.

So off we peddled with sliced apples and bribed chocolate bar, through the farmer’s field and reaching that bench and table with a view of the beautiful yellow canola flowers.  While sitting there munching our apples, Little T jumped up and told me to close my eyes and open my hand (a request that makes me a little nervous when we are outside, as I fear he will put a spider there).  When I opened my eyes, there in my hand was the sweetest bunch of wild flowers he had picked for me.  It was one of those moments where I wish time would stand still.

On our way back home, Little T excitedly suggested that next Sunday we should bring Daddy to the same place we saw today and share a picnic together.

Looks like I wasn’t the only one who wanted to share the farmer’s field.