2009 Reflective Musings

A year themed by change.

As I sit at my laptop, reflecting on the passing year, I realize that I have changed in so many ways. Mentally, emotionally, physically. Maybe change isn’t the right word, but I have experienced growth.

Many wonderful adventures of all sorts were had. I backpacked through the Smokey Mountains, soaked in some marvelous hot springs, spent many nights gazing up at the stars and conquered Hoodoo Mountain to gaze upon Hoodoo lake.

Outdoor WomanThe sights replenished my soul and brought me peace. Even now, I crave the outdoors, the connection with Mother Nature. I yearn to feel hiking boot against trail while the sun warms my skin and the breeze whispers secret thoughts for only me to understand.

I chuckle to myself as I recount the morning my precious dogs made an escape hatch through the back of the tent, cutting our trip short. I groan as I remember the excruciating climb up mountains, and again resolve myself to be in even better shape next summer. A smile parts my lips while I reminisce of the two months spent in North Idaho with my Mom. Days lounging on the lake, mountain hikes, all attributed to her for introducing me to the outdoors.

Campfire meals never tasted so delicious (even with the potatoes more than slightly undercooked). Stars never shone so brightly. And when I thought my appreciation for this wonderful world could not grow any deeper, it explodes and rises to a whole new level.

As I look at my reflection, seeing beyond the newly acquired lines on my forehead (perhaps from age or not enough sunscreen?), I see myself. I am an outdoors woman, and I can’t wait for the adventures to come!

Happy New Year. See you all in 2010!

Fruits for Thought, More Environmental Quotes

Environmental quotes always broaden my thoughts, expand my mind, contemplate and appreciate the world around me.

Here are a few quotes that I recently came upon. I hope you enjoy.skinny

When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.  ~John Muir

Man is a complex being:  he makes deserts bloom – and lakes die.  ~Gil Stern

There is hope if people will begin to awaken that spiritual part of themselves, that heartfelt knowledge that we are caretakers of this planet.  ~Brooke Medicine Eagle

Modern technology
Owes ecology
An apology.
~Alan M. Eddison

The difference between animals and humans is that animals change themselves for the environment, but humans change the environment for themselves. ~Ayn Rand

Fruits for thought; environmental quotes

In doing research for a paper I came across some quotes that made an impact on my thoughts and really touched me. I thought I would share them.nature

To waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed.  ~Theodore Roosevelt, seventh annual message, 3 December 1907

When the soil disappears, the soul disappears.  ~Ymber Delecto

In an underdeveloped country, don’t drink the water; in a developed country, don’t breathe the air.  ~Changing Times magazine

I’m not an environmentalist.  I’m an Earth warrior.  ~Darryl Cherney, quoted in Smithsonian, April 1990

When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves.  ~David Orr

We cannot command Nature except by obeying her.  ~Francis Bacon

I will leave you with these fruits of thought for now to blossom into action and hope.