Sometimes I have to get away from the house . . . the office . . .  and the phone . . . and email . . . the internet . . . and the overflowing inbox and long to-do list .   Sometimes I need more room to breathe.  To think.  To slow down the frantic pace of my thoughts.  A short walk helps usually.  Sometimes, though, it takes a long walk to really ease the tension, to settle my mind into a state of calm that allows me to set aside the day’s worries and irritations for a little while and notice the  details of the world around me.

A duck feather caught on a twig, fluttering in the faint breeze.

The weathered patterns on an old, battered log.

The details in the lichens on a rock outcrop in the pasture.

An old skull washed downstream by floodwaters and deposited high on the creek bank.

The fine details of weathered bone and teeth left too long exposed to the elements.

The view from this angle hints at a long life and a body worn with age and use.   The curls and swirls of varying tones fascinate me for some odd reason.  I’d no idea there could be such variation in a tooth, but then I’ve not spent much time studying worn teeth from quite this angle.  There are, I suspect, many such oddly fascinating things hidden in the mundane world around us.  All we need do is slow down and see what’s been there all along.