Half a dozen years ago I came across a quote from American naturalist John Burroughs that shone a light for me on something most all of us do without giving it much notice. Burroughs said, "To learn something new, take the same path that you took yesterday."
Yesterday my dog and I were on just such a path. I have walked it, conservatively, with one of my three dogs a thousand times. The Hammer races down to the water along the same dog worn paths that lead from the main path to the swimming opportunities below. I look out on the ever changing never changing world as I walk. Mostly it is just the seasons that change. Every once in a while somebody builds a new barn.
There was something along the path that I had missed on my previous one thousand walks yesterday. An apple tree. A red apple tree with apples hanging there low enough for me to pick. I filled the pockets of my big pocketed coat and ate one as the Hammer and I made our way back to the car.
It was a perfect red apple. Captain Crunchy. Juicy as unshared political gossip.
Came across a wool mittened couple with their dog before our walk was done. The man said, "Don't like the look of the snow that low on the mountains so early in the year."
I did not look so bad when you had a red apple in your cold hand.
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