I'm back

I don't know the reason-laziness, lack of inspiration, getting into a bad habit of not writing. Honestly don't know.  Maybe a hiccup in taking photos, which is almost always the inspiration for a post.  I know part of it was losing my last outdoor editor Brian Otten from Wisconsin Outdoor Fun where I could write anything I wanted.  He'd always follow up, give suggestions and seeing my words and pictures "in print" was a motivator.  It wasn't the same when he left for the Wausau Chamber and a new editor with less interest in outdoors took over.

In any regard, the blog has sat idle for a long time.  I'd think about it from time to time, but didn't lift a finger to pound out any words-photos went to facebook more or less or just shared with friends and family.  The DNR job took away time as well and early mornings were when I'd usually tap some thoughts out.

 Now, this bastard virus has changed the world, and me in it.

Uncertainty, fear.  Anxiety off the charts.  Concern for friends and family, for all of us, for myself as well.  A recent piece talked of this CV and our feelings of it as grief.  Anticipatory grief-not knowing what is around the corner.  The world is forever changed. It also presented a path forward-acceptance of what is right now and what we can control and can't.  To come back to the present.  I've not been one to meditate really, granted, I've spent a lifetime in a deer or turkey hunting blind with hour upon hour to think, but I'm not sure it's the same.  Hmmm, I guess I've experienced "practiced mindfulness" while hunting, fishing, hiking, paddling... I just didn't have a word for it.

 That whole thought has come and lit on me pretty heavily lately-I've noticed how much I appreciate little things.  On walks with the dog, I'd usually always listen to podcasts...now I leave them home, instead, taking in the bird song, wind in the bare trees, trucks still hauling on the hiway a mile away, the bite of the breeze or mist of rain on my face.  It's grounding, there is still a world out there.  Nature is still doing what it does, and it's a comfort.

 There will be an end to this, just as winter ended and the flocks returned.  Just as I am back here as well.

Mara, watchful for the next bird to chase in our favorite countryside