Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Stephens Forest

Today was...

Gentle drizzle, dripping off of the trees unto the grass. Telephone poles shocking the empty gray backdrop of the sky. Slippery birches, daring you to fall off, taunting you to lose your balance. Green, so much green, everything bursting into green. Today.

I'm going to tell a joke. Because I need to get it out of my system. Don't judge me.

Today was a bad day to have your head in the clouds. I'm soaked.

It looked like it was going to be a lame day, because it was raining, and I wanted to photograph something today and needed more light (why is there never enough light?). Well, I photographed it anyway, the pictures turned out lame (because there wasn't enough light), stupid me. Then, I went for a walk. Ahhhhh. Some people like to travel, to see new places. I wonder if those people have explored the place they live. I walked down a road I had never been before, and at the end of it, I discovered Stephens Forest. Which isn't really a forest, it's a trail through the forest. And it isn't really a trail, because "trail" means hiker-boots and dirt and pine trees, and an ugly man-made slash through the woods. This was a tunnel through the forest, as if the woods had opened up a path just so that we could revel in it. It was covered in grass, and you had to duck slightly most of the time because the trees formed arch over the tunnel. It was very Secret Garden. It was awesome.

Whoever said that taking a walk clears your head was wrong. My mind was exploding the whole time. I am, of course, already beginning to forget everything that I thought about, but if I could remember, it would last me weeks in blog posts. So, just one thought today. And that's about how I write. Because, as I was walking, I found myself mentally composing blog posts... to you. For some reason (probably in part because I'm extroverted-ish) I find it easier to "think to" (write to) others than to think to (write to) myself. This is probably why I never had any success journalling, I had no idea what to do with the personal pronouns, and even though I knew about the whole "get your thoughts down" thing, I couldn't figure out why I would tell myself what was on my mind. I probably should have made up somebody to write to, that would make it easier to journal.

Thankfully, I don't have to. The wonder of the internet, Thanks for being there guys. Thanks for not being immaginary friends.

Just because you're such awesome friends, you get to read a seletion of dialog between Jeremy and I:

Jeremy: "I was walking and I saw something that I thought was a stump. So I walked towards it, because I thought it was a stump."

Me: "Because you wanted to stand on the stump?"

Jeremy: "No, because I didn't remember a stump there before. [Jeremy knows our woods very, very well] And then it moved! And I jumped... and then I landed. And it turned out to be a porcupine, so I got a stick and I poked it. I actually didn't, I pretended to poke it, so it wouldn't shoot quills at me. That's it."

Me: "Good story Jay."

That's it.

5 comments:

  1. Walking in the woods does the opposite of clear your head :P It just gives it more things to think about :P

    ReplyDelete
  2. Way to get my hopes up with "I'm going to tell a joke. Because I need to get it out of my system." and then not tell one. Unless Jeremy's story was the joke.

    In which case, I love Jeremy. He's win.

    I keep waiting for walks on rainy days in the woods to get old. And they don't. There /is/ justice in this world!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hayley, the joke was right there! :D

    Ahh, this post made me happy, I should have taken a walk today. And, I always regret it when I don't bring my little book on walks. Thoughts abound.

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hayley, I made a deliberate pun on the phrase, "head in the clouds" and you didn't even notice. I'm shocked.

    ReplyDelete
  5. *headdesk*

    It was a good one, too. Pity the dense girl!

    ReplyDelete