August 07th, 2020

Look!  Up in the Sky!  It's a Bird!  It's a Plane!  It's.....

Never mind, I just always wanted to say that.  

What I wanted to write about today was a singular experience that I had this week.  I went for a hike by myself.  All alone.  Just me, myself and I.

Oh I take walks by myself all of the time.  Sometimes with a purpose.  An errand or an appointment.  Sometimes just for the pleasure of some physical exercise and fresh air.   And sometimes on those walks, I even take my camera.  

The difference is, when I am just out taking a walk, I am around civilization.  I am never far from a house or a business.  I am walking on sidewalks or streets.  There is always pavement of some sort beneath my feet.  I have a continuous cell signal.  It is something I have always felt perfectly safe doing.

Of course to be honest, Venice is a very safe town.  According to some crime statistic chart from 2019, Venice is the 12th safest city in the state of Florida. And considering how large Florida is, that is a lot of cities.  So walking around I always feel perfectly completely entirely safe.  If I should trip over my own big feet and get hurt,  there are people around to help.  And a good strong cell signal if it came to that.

Hiking is a little different.  Not that there is a huge criminal element lurking in the surrounding preserves and forests (they are not)  but more about the isolation of it all.  If I fall down and break a leg in the forest, there's nobody around except me.  I am pretty sure that the squirrels would be of no help at all.  And often times no cell connectivity.  So it seems prudent to only hike with someone else. Right?  That's what we are taught.  Safety in Numbers.

And quite honestly, it's more fun.    Oh I don't mind being by myself sometimes, in fact I often look forward to having time alone.  A  nurse named Betty, who I once worked with and always admired described it to me once as "enjoying the pleasure of my own company".  But hiking with a camera in my hand and someone like minded at my side is a joy.  And the fact that my hiking companion usually is my sister, Joy,  is just a bit of serendipity, I assure you.

But right now Joy is travelling.  (and sending me beautiful photos from far away places)  So if I want to hike, for awhile, I will mostly be hiking solo.  And earlier this week, that's what I did.

I hiked the Caspersen Nature Trail.  It's a wee bit more than 3 1/2 miles of trail and since I was taking photos it took me far longer than it should have to cover it.  Because I didn't come up with idea early enough, I didn't head out at the crack of dawn (as Joy and I usually do) and therefore it was hot.  Not just hot, but heat index over 100 hot.  So it was not one of my brighter ideas.  Still, I did have the good sense to bring water and wear sunscreen and a hat so I wasn't entirely stupid.

However, because it was hot out, the only birds I saw were the Pelicans flying over head (picture at the top of the page).  The rest of the birds, far smarter than I, were hiding in the shade.  Probably laughing at me as I walked past them.  

I saw a lot of dragonflies and butterflies and got a photo of not one single one of them dang it.   They were too quick, too  wily and too unwilling to just "hold still for a minute please!"  Highly uncooperative.

So the hike ended up being primarily Berries and Blossoms.  There was quite a variety of both so I'll start with the berries.  Well I call them berries.  I don't honestly know what they are, but they look like berries so until I know better, that's the category I am lumping them in:

And as far as blossoms, naturally there were a lot of those. There always are :)

And of course my favourite category, the miscellaneous photos:

I had a good time. I enjoyed being out in  nature again.  I enjoyed listening to my own thoughts for awhile. But I really missed Joy's company and I look forward to when she returns and we hit the trails again together.

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