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Nature Walk
09/24/08
Annie Dillard, philosophical as ever, can find meaning in what seems like nothing to the rest of us. She writes, "We wake, if we ever wake at all, to mystery, rumors of death, beauty and violence?" On our walk today, look for evidence of these things- beauty, mystery, death and write about them. Describe them. How did they get there? What is the story they have to tell? What deeper meaning are they hiding?
...Listening to the wood, I hear all these noises. This loud croaking sounds behind me- where is it coming from, I think the swamp. What could it be? Animal or just a weird noise, but I think it's a frog I looked over at a frog? (Grace Purcell)
...The bump in the tree sits there as if it's ready to birth a child. The pine needles lie upon the roots allowing the baby to have a soft cushion to land on. The tree had aged and was ready to pass on its life to its child? (Jesenia Vinton)
...Tree branches are swaying with the breeze it's surrounded by bright blue puffy clouds. Pine needles cover the ground as it's a blanket covering the trees and roots? (Candice Bean)
...I see a bright pink and yellow flower that stands out amongst the brown dry and bare plant life surrounding it?.. I look closely at the tree trunk and I can see small neon green bugs that are frantically scurrying around, bumping into one another then quickly turn the opposite direction... (Katrina Hardan)
...There are dark and white puffy clouds gilding over the top of the trees to cast a dark shadow, but the bright blue sky stands behind the clouds?. Underneath a small branch a light grayish- black feather sits there in silence... (Kayla Dole)
...Someone said: "We can't control the length of our life, but we can decide the width our life have." I agree, God might be set up our fate before we came, but I think he just can set the time we have. Our lives still in our hands. We can pray for God give us more time to stay in the earth but we can't pray for God give us more value we have in the earth? (Xia Yun Zhou, Summer)
...I know some kind of animal had to have made this. The trunk of this tree was taken over. From where I am standing there are three holes visible to me? (Jake Lessard)
This forest, full of greens and browns,
Its beauty softly speaks,
Gazing off I watch leaves gracefully fall,
The extended branches squeak
A sign, so obvious and irritating,
Shows on the forest floor
The trees lay motionless, lifeless
On the ground where they stood before.
(Vicki Armstrong)
...All too soon the trees sense the subtle change in the atmosphere, signaling the end is near for its colorful, faithful leaves?. The leaf gracefully flutters through the air, finally landing with a soft crinkle on the ground; its eventful, yet all too short journey ending in this final descent? (Lindsey Savard)
...So many leaves are already dry and dying whether they're in a tree or bush, yet the death of these leaves is beautiful. Only out in the wild is the shedding of dead body parts so beautiful. The shedding of our skin and hair is so ugly and annoying, but the woods take pride in it? (Cherylynn Calfy)
There is some mystery about how the trees have fallen. Is it because of some violent winds, some animal knocking them down, or they just got old and died. I myself will probably never know the fate of these fallen trees. (Josh Moore)
The trees look like they have
Been through battle
A battle that no one
Has won.
And through the tall
Tree leaves, I see the
Rising sun.
(Ciara Bombaci)
First catching my eye as I walked into the silent woods was a small, deserted pond, containing shrubbery, deceased leaves and brown branches. The pond peacefully sits, making mirror images of the world above itself. If that is not beauty, I do not know what beauty is. (Cassie Tomkiewicz)
I think of the violence the tree made when it came crashing down to earth and the thunder booms it made. I think back on the beauty of the tree, the leaves blowing in the wind. (Zach Newcity)
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