November 13, 2020  

Pointed my identification app at Maud and it said “Domestic Cat.” I thought that was hilarious. Christmas fern. . . . striped wintergreen . . . . 

At the end of two days remarkable in a way my life has not been remarkable for a long time– for physical achievement. Yesterday I did the nature walk around the main building at the Arboretum. Many of the items labeled for the visitor have either died or disappeared for autumn. Made me imagine a park that labels things long passed away but which may have stood once upon that spot: Cycad, short-faced bear, tyrannosaur. . . .Too many walkers to allow one a taste of wilderness, though I did take a side path that allowed me to hear the passing of Bent Creek two hundred feet below. Drove from there rather aimlessly, but found myself in Brevard, at the trout hatchery. Did their little nature trail, fed the fish, which looked huge to me. Stopped at a Chinese buffet on the way home and made myself sick with gluttony. Today, though I’d intended other things, the weather was so perfect I set out again, arriving at Walnut Gap. Took the path leading south from there, as I had taken the one leading north several days ago. The notable thing about that is that the south paths goes directly uphill, steep, long, something I would not even have attempted during the last five years of my life. Went slow, rested often, but made it to the top. The top is one of the wonder-places of the Parkway, a wide hill with a long path across it, traveling the roof of things for maybe half a mile. I remembered it from before as one of my magic places, as it was today. I lingered and lingered before I climbed down again. There at the world’s rim I uttered perhaps the purest prayer I have ever uttered in my life. I was a tiny, happy animal under a dome of gleaming blue, giving thanks for its life. When I came down I was not even exhausted; plus, I had learned me lesson about the Chinese buffet.