An Ending

           This semester is coming to an end and for my last blog entry, I am assigned to reflect upon my experience. My professor told us to answer three different questions for our final blog. How has my perspective changed of nature, and how do I fit in with nature? What have I learned about writing in general? And lastly, what is my view on blogging?

            

            First, I have to say that my perspective of nature has not really changed. I have always viewed nature as being a beautiful and wonderful thing in which I live. Nature has always captivated and enchanted me and that has not changed, nor will I think that view will ever change. Even though my perspective of nature has not changed, I do believe my place in nature has been altered a little. I never used to think about what my role in nature is, and now, I find myself appreciating nature a bit more. After learning about plastic bottles, I have not bought one since. I also find myself buying locally when before, I had never given much thought to how I got my food or where I bought it from. This class and everything it has taught me has made me aware of my actions in nature.

            

           Throughout this course, I do believe my writing has improved. I had an assignment of writing a poetry analysis. This was only the second time writing about poetry and I do believe that I improved since my last one. I also gained knowledge about the difference of nature writing versus environmental writing. In my opinion, nature writing has more appeal because it makes nature romantic in a way that environmental writing does not. I hope to keep writing about nature and the wonders and beauties of it.

           

           Lastly, I think this blogging assignment was interesting. This was the first time I have ever blogged, and I have to say that I actually enjoyed it. I can see myself keeping up with blogging when I find time to write. Finding time to write is not always easy, though. The most interesting and fun part about blogging for me was creating imagery. I love when I get a picture in my head and then I write down what I’m seeing. It’s a challenge trying to get my readers to see the image that I see through my explanatory words. Overall, I enjoyed this blogging experience and hope to find time in the future to continue writing. 

Nature Purification

     On November 21, 2015, I awoke to a new and uncertain brightness outside my window. Once I let my eyes adjust to the sight out my window, I realized that everything was covered in snow. Hamilton had its first snowfall, and it was beautiful!
      This snow was the type of snow that acts as a blanket for the surrounding nature; everything was covered in snow. Each branch on the tree out my window was completely covered in white. Even a bush, that still had leaves clinging to the branches, was drooping with the weight of the snow. I climbed out of bed, made a pot of coffee, took my steaming mug and went to sit down in front of a large window in my living room. I covered myself in a blanket and allowed myself a quiet morning of observing the beauties of nature.

Snow Covered Trees Outside of My House

     I noticed the stillness and the quietness. It seemed as though everything was still asleep and cozy under this blanket of snow. I was enjoying this peacefulness when a movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. A bird had just flew up into a snow-covered tree. To me, this bird looked like a lone survivor of the outside world. There it was, sitting all alone on a tree, calling out and nothing else heard it; nothing else joined it. Eventually, it took flight away from the tree and the stillness was restored. I sat wondering whether that bird would find its mate and whether it would be reconnected with its kind; I certainly hope so.
      As I sat looking out my window, I began to reflect on the symbol that snow has. In many cases, winter symbolizes death because most green, living things shrivel up and die for the season. This outlook is very melancholy. I would rather see snow as being a new beginning. Everything out my window was covered in snow and, to me, it acted as a purifying object. The snow was washing away everything from the previous year, and when the snow eventually melts, life will be renewed. Things need to die in order for rebirth to occur. I would much rather think of the life to come then the death that is happening.
     The blanket of snow out my window was beautiful because this snow acted as a purifying object for rebirth to be able to happen in the spring. Every season is beautiful, including winter, and I was incredibly joyful to be able to witness the first snow of the season.

My Dog Remi Enjoying the First Snow

Spring into Writing

      My environmental literature class hosted a guest speaker on October 26, 2015. Tom Springer, the author of Looking for Hickories, is an amazing environmental and nature writer and he so graciously visited our class to talk about writing.

      One thing Springer talked about was what he called essay building blocks. The first building block is personal experience. A writer needs to have a personal experience that they feel passionate about so his/her writing is enhanced with emotions. A good writer has many personal experiences worth writing about. The second building block that Springer described is having expert information. Once a writer describes a personal experience, then it is time for the author to do some research on what he/she wrote about. Adding expert information to personal experiences adds more context to a piece of writing. The last building block is having wisdom synthesis. Springer describes this as helping readers view your side of the argument by pulling the other two building blocks together. The wisdom synthesis brings everything together and sums everything up. If a person wants to be a great writer, these building blocks are essential to add into writing.

Tom Springer's book Looking for Hickories

 

      Springer also talked about other aspects of good writing. One thing he said to the class that interested me was to “look at the wonder of things”. He was speaking about the wonder of nature. How often do people have their noses glued to their cell phone or other electronic devices? Springer suggested that people need to look up and observe the wonders of nature that we are enveloped in each and every day. This will allow writers to have new personal experiences in nature to write about. Springer does an amazing job of turning the ordinary into extraordinary in his book Looking for Hickories. He is able to do this because he observes the wonders of nature and creates a personal experience to go along with it.

      Springer also told us to find a “story beneath a story.” Many stories usually have stories beneath that goes along with the original story. Writers need to look beneath the surface of something in order to write about a different perspective that is interesting and still valuable. In order to be a great and unique writer that goes outside the original boundaries, writers need to look at something and see something more in which they can expand on. This is one particular region in which I struggle in. I do not look beneath the surface of objects or ideas, but I know that in order to be a great writer, instead of a good writer, I need to look deeper into things

      Tom Springer is an amazing writer and I was very blessed to have listened to him speak to us about writing. His advices about the essay writing blocks, looking at the wonder of things in nature, and finding a story within a story were all great pieces of advice that I hope to incorporate into my writing.

Continuous Cycle

Fall is my favorite season of the entire year and I am excited to say that it is finally here! I love to cozy up in large, chunky sweaters with a hot cup of tea in my hands and watch football on Sunday’s. Fall is packed full of great activities like apple picking, pumpkin picking, and scary corn mazes, all of which I enjoy tremendously. Not only do I enjoy the activities found in the season of fall, but I also love the changes that happen in nature. I love the change in movements of animals as the air gets colder, and I love the crisp air that you breathe when you walk outside on a cold day. But my favorite change that fall brings with it is the varying colors on the trees. I like looking up into a tree and seeing a single red leaf surrounded by green and knowing that soon, all the green leaves will make the transformation and follow in the footsteps of the first red leaf.

                Then, all of the trees slowly start to shift their colors from a lively green to more vibrant colors of red, orange, yellow, and less vibrant brown. When the colors start changing in fall, I am reminded that another year is almost to an end. It forces me to reflect on everything I have accomplished so far and everything else that I want to accomplish before the year is finished. I have survived another semester at school while also working thirty hours a week. I flew to North Carolina to visit friends that I have been missing. I went skydiving for the first time in my life. I witnessed one of my best friends’ say her vows in front of a hundred people while standing by her side. Another birthday has come and gone and now I am in another semester at school. The rest of my year will consist of homework, work in general, and the upcoming holidays.

                                                               A Tree Outside of My House in Fall

              Finally, I look at a tree and notice one small brown leaf is clinging to its branch by only a small thread. The wind picks up and the leaf loses its grip and begins to float to the ground to join the other fallen leaves. This indicates an ending of one season and a beginning of another and I know that in a year, I will experience the same feeling of awe at the conclusion of another year. The leaves will come back to life in spring and I will get the hopeful feeling of rebirth and growth. Then the cycle continues.

Finally Flying

                When I was nine years old, my mother took my sisters and me to Michigan’s Adventure for a fun filled day. The one thing I remember most was the ride called Rip Cord that I went on with my sisters. This ride consists of strapping up to three people in a harness connected to a rope, raising you to the very intimidating height of 300 feet, and dropping you so you fly through the air. I remember thinking that I have never felt such a rush in my entire life and that I wanted to do it again. While I was laughing my head off, my sister was screaming and crying. Apparently not everyone likes the feelings of their stomach dropping and seeing the ground coming closer and closer. I relished it.

     Ever since that time, I have been telling myself that someday, I want to experience the same feelings that I had while riding the Rip Cord. This past summer, my dream came true. For my birthday, my parents bought me a ticket for skydiving and I was ecstatic. I picked a day to go and my parents volunteered to drive, which later I realized was an incredible blessing. We pulled up to the place where I was supposed to skydive and was quite surprised at what I found. This place was a line of garages with tiny planes in each garage. I was positive that we were in the wrong place but according to the signs, this was my destination.

      I walked up to the desk to sign in and was informed that the plane was currently being worked on and I would have to wait until the plane was fixed before we could go into the air. The lady at the desk decided to crack a joke and say “Well, at least you are planning on jumping out of the plane so you have nothing to fear!” Let me tell you how reassuring that was; not at all. From then, I went to meet the guy who would be strapped to me while jumping out of the plane. Again, I was not reassured. This guy was a head shorter than me and at least forty years older. My worries were building.

 

My Instructor and I

 

      After an hour of waiting, I was told that the plane was fixed and we were ready to go. From then, everything went fast. They put my harness on and piled me into the back of this miniscule plane. I had to sit behind the pilots chair on the floor with three other guys. We were a pile of limbs. The plane took off and I waved goodbye to my watching parents.

Me Sitting on the Plane's Floor

      I watched the ground slowly disappear as we flew through the clouds and all I could do was pray. We finally got to our point of jumping which was ten thousand feet in the air. All of the sudden, the other two guys in the plane opened a side door, yelled “good luck!” and jumped. My jumping partner looked at me and gave me the signal to climb closer to the door. I scooted to the open door and stuck my feet out on the wings. Before I even knew what happened, we were tumbling through the air and finally flattened out on our stomachs and began to fly. I felt my stomach drop and my adrenalin shoot sky high and I was having the time of my life.

      I loved the feel of the wind whipping at my face, drawing tears out of my eyes, and chapping my cheeks. Even the sting of the brutal wind was welcomed. I remember feeling like I was on top of the world. Everything seemed so small and insignificant: I couldn’t even see humans from the distance I was at. I have never experienced something so amazing in my entire life.

Getting Ready to Land

        I soon floated back down to earth where the instructor unstrapped me and told me we were done and I was free to leave. He seemed so unaffected by the entire experience while I am shaking with the excitement and adrenalin. Who knew that jumping from ten thousand feet in the air could feel so good? I experienced nature in a whole different way up in the sky and I would do it again and again.

At the End

Tranquility At Its Finest

     For the entirety of my life, I have been blessed with living only twenty minutes away from Lake Michigan. The lake has always been a part of my life. For me, there is a sense of serenity when surrounded by a big body of water. The smell of the lake and sand, the feel of sand in between your toes and the water washing it off, the taste of the thick air on hot, humid days, and all of the various sights give a person a sense of peacefulness. I have always felt peace and comfort while on the shore of Lake Michigan.

     One of my favorite places to go is Saugatuck State Park which is located right next to Felt Mansion (a supposedly haunted place). When you park, you see a large area of picnic tables for families to gather and socialize on one side, and the other side of the park is woods filled with hiking trails. One of these beautiful trails is a little over two miles and leads to a secluded beach. Not many people chose to walk this beach since it is not family friendly. Families with small children or families who pack to the max do not want to walk two miles to get to the beach. I enjoy this. I can walk the entire two miles and not see a single soul and usually when I pop out onto the beach, there are only a few people there. My small bag consists of a water bottle, a towel, and a book. When I reach the small beach, I scout for a spot away from everyone else, set out my towel, sit down and dive into an incredible story that takes me elsewhere. This is how I find peace.

My Friend and I Just Reaching the Empty Beach

 

     Not only do I enjoy relaxing on the beach near the lakeside, I enjoy the trails as well. My favorite time of the day to walk these trails is sunset. I will stay on the beach until the sun starts to sink then I pack my bag and set off through the trail. I love the look of how the sun filters through the leaves and creates shadows among the trails. I also enjoy the quiet of the woods at this time of day. Most people have already left and all I hear is the music of the forest. I hear birds singing and squirrels running up trees. I can hear the tree frogs starting to croak and the crickets starting to chirp. Then I step out of the magic and back into reality when the trail ends and I climb into my car and leave everything behind me as I drive away. This is usually my experience with Lake Michigan now that I am an adult.

Part of the Trail to Get to the Beach

 

     Yes, my parents use to take me to the beach as a child and I also go with my friends but I like it most when I am alone with my book. My opinion of Lake Michigan is that it is a place of tranquility and it is difficult to stay tranquil when I am conversing with friends or trying to keep them entertained. I absolutely love being near Lake Michigan and am blessed and grateful to have something that marvelous in my life.

Let the Hunt Begin

 

                I know that hunting is a topic of controversy for some people and it may offend some of my readers but I was born and raised a hunter. My father has always been a hunter and he wanted a hunting partner. He tried with my two older sisters and they were both repulsed by the idea. I was his last chance since I was the youngest and luckily, I found interest in the sport. It started when I was seven years old and my father let me shoot his BB gun for the first time. I became obsessed with target practicing and as I got bigger, so did the guns. I remember getting my very own 22 rifle with a pink stock. I was ecstatic. I took the hunter’s safety class when I was thirteen and soon after went on my very first hunt with my father. Now, every November 15^th (opening day), I wake up before it is light outside and trek out into the woods by myself. It is quite an experience.

                I like to think that I am more in tune with nature compared to the average person. Being a hunter forces you to be in the woods throughout the whole year. I put out trail cameras, plant food plots, and clear shooting lanes for my tree stands. This takes a lot of time. I like to check my trail cameras at least twice a month to see what kind of animals are out in the area I will be hunting. I spend all year preparing for November when I finally get to go hunting.

One Trail I Walk Out To Get To My Stand

 

                On an average day of hunting, I wake up at 5:30 a.m. when it is still pitch black outside, and begin the process of dressing. I have up to five layers of clothing for the day to keep me warm. I make sure I have all of my necessities and head out the door. Then, I make my way to the edge of the woods where I plunge into the darkness. The only reason I know where I am going is because I spend all year walking the path to my tree stand so I am prepared to make the walk in the dark. I rely on my senses to get me safely to my stand. In the dark, my eyes try to adjust so I can see a bit of the path (it always helps when the moon is full). My ears hear every noise in the woods and I usually can pick apart the noises. For the most part, I know the difference of squirrels and birds compared to the noise a deer makes while tramping through the woods. I finally find my tree stand and climb up and begin my wait. Sometimes I sit for four hours straight without seeing anything at all. I consider myself lucky when I have squirrels to entertain me. But on those days where I see deer walk out in front of me, I feel an emotion unlike any other. My heart is pounding and I am a nervous wreck. I need to decide whether to shoot or simply watch and unless I see something I really want, I watch. Then I climb down and head home.

                One of my favorite parts of the hunt besides actually seeing deer is just sitting by myself out in the woods for hours. It is very peaceful and you have nothing but time to enjoy the nature around you. I am very thankful that I grew up hunting because I have a different experience with nature then others and I get to spend lots of time out in the woods where I hunt. I am thankful every day that my father raised me the way I am.

 

 

My Latest Deer November, 2014