Backyards, parks, and fish.

The other day, my boyfriend and I piled in a car and drove out to Mattawan to visit his aunt.  Every time I visit one of his relatives it always amazes me how much land they have.  Lulu, our enthusiastic 9-week-old beagle was in heaven running until she tuckered her little heart out.  Having Lulu is such a great reminder of play in nature.  I love running around with her or laying with her under a tree while I read or do homework.  Her curiosity of nature is definitely contagious.  We continued our nature-filled afternoon at one of my boyfriend's favorite childhood spots, the fish hatchery.  I suppose this is more of a man-made piece of nature, but either way watching the fish is amazing.  There's a fish food dispenser mounted on a wooden bridge that leads you to the middle of the pond.  You put in a quarter and drop in a little food, and about 40 fish come flying from every direction to attack it.
The only school of fish I've ever seen were of tiny little minnows that would nibble on my toes at my favorite lake in Paw Paw.  I had never seen that many fish in one place, nor had I ever seen a fish that big.  Any time I had ever been fishing I only caught small-mouthed bass.  I love living in Michigan because there are so many unique experiences that I never had growing up, and they're all a very short distance from here.  When I was young I was always outside, playing in my backyard or at the neighborhood park around the corner, but the comparison to places here is unreal.  Most of my friends' backyard's are about 5-100 acres, and I don't even know a place where there is that much open land where I come from.  Also, a lot of people I've met since I've been in college raise animals.  Learning more and more about the environment makes me think about how I eventually would like to live my life.

Blog 1 :)

First, I find this blog to be an interesting concept, slightly contradictory, but more in an ironic way than a negative way.  I have never blogged before, but this semester two of my classes require it, and another class uses the e-learning discussion section to reflect and journal in a similar way, and yet another class has a required wiki page where we can discuss problems in the homework or review what we did that day, etc.  The irony comes into play because we discuss in this class how we find ourselves less and less able to actually "get away," because we are constantly connected to the world.  This semester that has never been more true.  I just got an iPhone and all three of my e-mail accounts, my facebook account, my GoWMU, and my contacts list are at the tips of my  fingers at all times.  Now with these new blogs I had to find an App for the iPhone to manage my blog page for a class where all of our collaborative group work must be communicated on Blogger.  As much as I would love to leave my phone at home every day, it has gotten to the point where so much information is pushed through technology every day, that if I didn't have access to it on my person at all times, I could miss information that people expect you to receive immediately in this technology age.  It's to the point where I'm so worried I'm going to miss a deadline, an announcement, or fall behind in some organization or class, I've become addicted to this new piece of technology that's supposed to be making my life "easy."
Although I don't think I would go to such extremes as Thoreau, I do fantasize about living a more leisurely lifestyle.  Italians, for example, or island cultures have a very different concept of time, and it seems, a much better appreciation for food and a good three hour dinner.  Even leisurely activities like eating a family dinner is just another 15 minutes out of your schedule.  My mind is as hyper as our culture, and when I actually give myself the opportunity to think, vent, and reflect, I tend to go on an on because writing is in fact, therapy.
I don't necessarily think you have to go to the extremes we seem to be reading about and temporarily abandon society to whatever extent is deemed enough, though I think our society is crazy at times.  My personal favorite thing about nature is the air.  It seems so simple, but to just stand, sit, or lay outside and really take in a breath of fresh air is a feeling I have trouble describing.  This is definitely a task I am looking to do during this class, preferably in a poem or perhaps song lyrics.  Air in the springtime, when everything is turning green again is so crisp and cool and clean and it smells different. I could probably just talk about breathing in air for pages.  That's my connection with nature, taking in oxygen, the most natural of any act a human performs.