Sara's Nature Blog

Over the weekend, I took a walk around  Meadowmere  Park with my family, and it ended up connecting more to Edward Abbey’s  Polemic  chapter than I expected.  It had rained the day before, so the grass was a little damp but not muddy, and the air felt fresh.  The sky was bright  blue,  and the winter trees were mostly bare, with thin branches spreading out above the walking path and playground.  As we walked through the park, I noticed that everyone was either walking or riding a bike. Kids were playing on the playground, and a couple of people were near the soccer goal in the open field, as shown in my other photo. Once we were inside the park, there were no cars around. That  immediately  made me think of Abbey’s argument about how parks should be experienced without vehicles.  He talks about how people experience places more fully when they are moving at their own pace instead of viewing everything from inside a vehicle, and...

This week’s reading from Edward Abbey, the  Havasu  chapter, connected in a personal way to something simple I experienced. I went to my brother’s soccer game by myself. Normally, I go with my family or friends, so I am used to always having someone to talk to during the game. This time it was just me sitting on the sideline. At first it felt a little uncomfortable to be outside alone while everyone else seemed to be in groups. After a while, that feeling shifted into something calmer and more focused. Looking out from the bleachers, the whole scene felt bigger than just the game. The field stretched out below with the track circling  it,  and the stadium lights were already on even though the sun was still setting. The sky was the most striking part. It faded from a deep clear blue at the top into soft  hues  of yellow, peach, and light orange near the horizon. Thin clouds were streaked across the sky and catching the color. From where I sat, I could see b...

This weekend, we experienced a winter storm that kept me inside most of the time. By the end of the weekend, I felt restless and disconnected, so I decided to take a walk around my neighborhood once the snow had settled. Stepping outside  felt like entering  a completely different world. Everything was covered in a layer of white snow, softening the usual sharp lines of houses, sidewalks, and streets.   What stood out to me most was  silence . There were no cars passing, no voices, and no familiar background noise. The only sound I could hear was the crunch of snow beneath my shoes as I walked.  That quiet felt similar to what Edward Abbey describes in the opening chapters of  Desert Solitaire , when he talks about solitude in the desert and how silence forces awareness.  Although my environment was  very different  from Abbey’s desert landscape, the feeling of isolation and stillness was surprisingly  similar. Reading  Abbey made m...

  After our first Treks and Texts class, I took a short walk around campus and made a conscious effort to slow down and notice the natural environment around me. It was a mild January afternoon, with temperatures in the  6 0s and a steady breeze pushing clouds quickly across the sky. Students moved in every direction, filling the sidewalks as they rushed to class, and I was reminded of how busy campus life can feel even when surrounded by green space.   I noticed several large live oak trees, which are common in Texas and easy to recognize by their wide branches and thick, curved trunks. Their dark green leaves contrasted with the lighter grass below, and fallen leaves covered parts of the sidewalk. I also saw crepe myrtle trees beginning to lose their flowers, with faded pink petals scattered along the grass.   As I walked, I heard birds moving between branches and the faint sound of insects, even in winter. The air felt calm, and a light breeze moved the leaves and...