Parallel Walking
Bringing personal and professional narratives together in nature
I haven't lived in a household with a car for 50 years, so walking and public transport (plus a few taxis) is how I get about. A lot of my walking is functional (e.g. going to the shops or work) but I've always also "gone for walks". In COVID lock down that became a daily thing and although I don't still do a non-functional walk every day, I think I still do them more than pre-COVID.
At any rate, even on functional walks I still pay attention to green things, stones, cats, birds etc. I also take a lot of photos and put them on my information literacy blog http://information-literacy.blogspot.com, so there are several thousand of them forming a sort of parallel, personal narrative to the professional blog narrative. I used to use a camera, but now I usually use my iPad: it's better than my phone as the bigger screen means I don't have to put my glasses on to see what I'm photographing! |I also find photography useful when I'm on my own: just staring at a patch of green things for 5 minutes might end up with someone asking if I'm OK, whereas if you have a device in your hands that's just normal.
Spring is my favourite time of year, and I look out for the different flowers, plants and trees gradually coming to life. First the snowdrops, the crocus, daffodils pushing up, and willow trees are about the first to show their leaves. By now even the beech trees are fully in leaf. I shuttle between 2 cities (Sheffield and London, England) and during spring you can see how London is about a week ahead of Sheffield (Sheffield is a few hundred miles North). In Sheffield there are still some horse chestnut flowers (so spectacular!) clinging on, but down in London they are just stems and the fruits starting to form. When I'm on the train between the two cities you can see a speeded up transition: at the moment the hawthorn is still in bloom in Sheffield, about to tip over, but as you travel down I can see it becoming rustier.
I also notice the absence of trees and plants I used to love. There was a lilac tree at the edge of someone's garden, that is on the route between me and the nearest shops (which are only 10 minutes away). I would have been pausing and smelling the lilac each time I went by in the past weeks, but the owners flattened the whole garden (and felled a tree, the vandals) in the autumn.
I notice "nature" and animals and birds, and how those things interact, but not so consciously humans. Thinking about it, it's partly that humans are more complicated to contemplate, but also that staring at humans you haven't been introduced to is not socially acceptable. Since I use public transport all the time, though, I imagine I bump into a wider range of humans than people who don't use it much?
The pictures are: trees & sky by St Martins in the Fields church (central London), a curb in South London, some candy tuft in a garden between my house and work in Sheffield, trees and reflection of a skyscraper in Vancouver. - Sheila Webber
About Sheila
Sheila Webber (Sheila Yoshikawa in Second Second Life) is an older, still employed, person who lives and works in the United Kingdom. She likes trees, flowers, Information Literacy, cats, Second Life, nice food, chocolate, dressing up, reading, writing and creating images.
Information Literacy: https://information-literacy.blogspot.com
Adventures of Yoshikawa: https://adventuresofyoshikawa.blogspot.com
X/Twitter https://twitter.com/sheilayoshikawa
Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/23396182@N00/
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheila-webber-14b780a/
Many thanks to Sheila Weber for taking part in our nature journaling adventure. We’d love to have you join us. You can learn how to take part by clicking HERE. There is no obligation to share, but if you’d feel the urge, please email your submission to AgelessMindProject@gmail.com.
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Beautiful, Sheila!
Wish I could go walking with you.