I had an appointment this morning, which normally would have meant working extra hours earlier this week, anxiously checking my watch while waiting, and then rushing up to the office as soon as it was done. But this time, I decided to do it differently. I took a half day. So once my appointment ended, instead of racing to work, I stopped at Brandywine Falls in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Brandywine Falls is one of the most popular falls in the area, and it’s easy to see why. Normally, you can go down a series of stairs and get a closer view, but that part of the trail was closed off today, so my pictures are from the upper viewing platform. No matter where you stand, though, it’s something to behold. And since it was the middle of a workday morning in February, I largely had the place to myself.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t hike the trails around the falls, which I highly recommend. I’ll make my way back there eventually to give you an idea of what it’s like, but the gorge trail and hiking along the river is beautiful. Today, though, I spent my time staying close the falls and appreciating the water, birds, and plants around me. Even though it was a grey, chilly day, there was a lot to see.
One of my favorite book series as a kid was The Chronicles of Narnia. This was one of my first introductions to the idea of dryads and I instantly fell under the spell of them. In the second book, Prince Caspian, Lucy returns to Narnia to find that the dryads have fallen into a deep sleep within their tree forms. One night, she gets up and walks through the woods, imagining what each tree’s dryad form would look like. I think of that passage often, and here I imagine a young woman accessorizing herself, adding a splash of color without being too outlandish.
While I couldn’t stay as long as I would have liked, taking that small break made a huge difference in how I felt as I headed to work. The fresh air, the sounds of birds and rushing water, even the chill in the air all worked their magic. Not everyone has the option to take personal time, which shouldn’t be the case (but that’s a different kind of blog post). If you do, though, I can’t recommend enough taking a random day or hours and refreshing your soul before or after work (whether that’s out of the home, in the home, parenting, elder care, etc.). We all need to spend some time with our Mother.
One last little story. When I started walking down the boardwalk to the falls, I noticed a tree with several holes and suddenly realized there was a little chipmunk sticking his head out of one. Before I could get the lens cap off my camera and take the picture, he had already ducked back in. I waited a few minutes to see if he would reappear, but no luck. So I whispered, “Hey, I’m going to keep going, but if you wouldn’t mind letting me take your picture on my way back, that would be wonderful.” Sure enough, as I was heading back the car about half an hour later, he was waiting, head back out. I managed to get several pictures of him before he ducked back inside. This is my favorite.
So I guess the moral of this post is that even if you don’t have a lot of time to go explore the wild, take what you can where you can and see what you can find.
~The forest makes your heart gentle. You become one with it.~ Pha Pachak