Every year, at the Solstice, Mark and I review the past and set our intentions for the coming cycle of the sun, usually on our walks through Finley Wildlife Refuge in the rain. Some years, we have lofty goals to change the world (Mark, at one point, wanted to learn three more languages), but, other years, they focus more on our daily lives. In 2004, I bought a black hard cover spiral notebook and took notes on all of our walks, forcing us out into the natural world every Sunday that winter, to look closely at the changing seasons. These notes led to long lists of wildflower blooms as well as close observations of moss and lichens and grounded us in the Pacific Northwest as our home bioregion. It may have been our best goal setting ever.
I want to revisit this goal in the coming year. Although we regularly walk around town for our daily lives—work, groceries, meetings, library visits-- we have not moved off pavement as much as we would like in the past few years. So, this is my goal for the year: off pavement every Sunday, somewhere between four and ten miles of trails, mostly local. And I am announcing it publicly, in case you all wish to hold us more accountable--or join in.
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