I can hardly believe this is the last blog entry of the
semester. As I look around at the snow on the ground, I remember that when I
started blogging the trees in my yard still had leaves. I’ve noticed a lot of
connections between nature and the passage of time since starting this blog. Maybe
spending time outside just watching, reflecting and thinking instead of doing something has allowed me to stop
and notice things about nature that I hadn’t before. Right now, for instance,
the sun is setting and it’s almost dark, but the blanket of snow on the ground
is making everything brighter than normal, almost like a very dim light is
shining down on the Earth. I’ve been outside with snow on the ground probably
hundreds of times, but I never once noticed the brightness that comes along
with snowy nights.
Despite the brightness the snow has created, I don’t see any
stars when I look up. I guess maybe it could be because of clouds blocking my
view. When I was in elementary school, I was fascinated by stars and outer
space. At one point I even wanted to be an astronaut. For my eighth or ninth
birthday, my parents bought me a telescope. Not a serious real-scientist
telescope, but a kid-friendly kind. I remember my dad helping me set it up and
showing me how to focus it. I used to go into the backyard of my childhood home
and look at all the craters on the moon. Eventually my interest in space kind
of dissipated, though, and I haven’t taken the time to look at stars in quite a
long while.
I think beyond all the practical things like helping me with
my skills as a writer and allowing me to practice writing about nature, the
best thing this blog has done for me is to allow me to stop and observe things,
and to consider how the things I notice outside relate to a bigger picture, to
life in general. Throughout this semester, I’ve started to see that there is
value in nature because of the way it almost lends itself to free thinking, and
knowing that makes nature something I’ll appreciate for the rest of my life.
I can't believe it's the end of the semester! I sure am gong to miss everyone's blogs. It went by so quickly and I feel like I've learned a lot too, just like you.
ReplyDeleteI liked the insertion of how you wanted to be an astronaut when you were a child. It was a nice place to put it, while you were looking up at the sky.
I think that like the nighttime light on snow, the brightness you notice is coming through in your growing awareness of the wider world, that you've experienced through the practice of writing the blog. While you may not write about *nature* in your fiction, that attention to detail can serve you well in that writing practice.
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