Cabin Fever
I realized yesterday that in the past three weeks--give or take a day--I have only been out in public for a total of about an hour. Gives new meaning to housebound, doesn't it? Thankfully, my local grocery store has online ordering; pickup is super easy: they bring out the cart, you load it yourself and drive away. I usually go on Sunday morning, very early and hardly interact with a soul.
On one hand, it's really good as far as social distancing goes; on the other, cabin fever was settling in with a vengeance yesterday. Amazing how cranky one can get over the dumbest thing. Nick--apparently in fear for his life if I didn't get a change of scenery--suggested a drive in the car to get out of the house, which I welcomed wholeheartedly.
About half an hour or so from the house there is a very small park along the river. We agreed beforehand that if anyone was there, we would just keep driving. Luckily enough, no one was there, woo hoo!!
This park is truly small: three fire/cooking pits, three picnic tables, one port-a-potty, no humans. Perfect.
We had our cameras, let Benny off-leash to explore new territory, and meandered down the dirt path in the quiet of a late afternoon with just the sounds of the river, bird song, and the occasional car passing along the highway. It was heavenly to be away from the house.
There were many diverse and interesting trees, and several enormous boulders, and lots and lots of moss--an Oregon feature in most of the forests and woodlands.
Three very unique trees:
This one is kind of scary...it looks like the tree is ready to talk, or yell...or scream
This one shares the space with a huge slab of rock. When it was a wee twig, it must have grown right beside the rock and then had to merge into/around it
My favorite. If you click on the photo, you can almost make out eyes--or at least one--and that's definitely a mouth. Even the base of the tree looks like big feet, ready to walk away at a moment's notice
We sat down at the river's edge, watching the ducks and the swirling water. A large blue Heron drifted down and landed across the river from us. Here's a very crappy shot of him waiting for a fish to swim by for his lunch. (This might be a "Where's Waldo" moment. He's dead center if you're wondering)
At the far end of the park was a truly large boulder that Benny just couldn't resist climbing on, then after one photo, he decided to jump off. In the second shot he's just raising his foot to begin the Great Boulder Leap. I didn't get the Leap photo as I was trying to stop him from jumping...to no avail. By the time I got close enough, he was already on the ground and off exploring something else. Honestly, kids today...
We spent a lovely two hours. I felt refreshed and much more at ease. I wish everyone had the same opportunity to get out and away in the midst of our current global nightmare.
Because for just those few quiet hours, the world felt normal again...
On one hand, it's really good as far as social distancing goes; on the other, cabin fever was settling in with a vengeance yesterday. Amazing how cranky one can get over the dumbest thing. Nick--apparently in fear for his life if I didn't get a change of scenery--suggested a drive in the car to get out of the house, which I welcomed wholeheartedly.
About half an hour or so from the house there is a very small park along the river. We agreed beforehand that if anyone was there, we would just keep driving. Luckily enough, no one was there, woo hoo!!
This park is truly small: three fire/cooking pits, three picnic tables, one port-a-potty, no humans. Perfect.
We had our cameras, let Benny off-leash to explore new territory, and meandered down the dirt path in the quiet of a late afternoon with just the sounds of the river, bird song, and the occasional car passing along the highway. It was heavenly to be away from the house.
There were many diverse and interesting trees, and several enormous boulders, and lots and lots of moss--an Oregon feature in most of the forests and woodlands.
Three very unique trees:
This one is kind of scary...it looks like the tree is ready to talk, or yell...or scream
This one shares the space with a huge slab of rock. When it was a wee twig, it must have grown right beside the rock and then had to merge into/around it
My favorite. If you click on the photo, you can almost make out eyes--or at least one--and that's definitely a mouth. Even the base of the tree looks like big feet, ready to walk away at a moment's notice
At the far end of the park was a truly large boulder that Benny just couldn't resist climbing on, then after one photo, he decided to jump off. In the second shot he's just raising his foot to begin the Great Boulder Leap. I didn't get the Leap photo as I was trying to stop him from jumping...to no avail. By the time I got close enough, he was already on the ground and off exploring something else. Honestly, kids today...
We spent a lovely two hours. I felt refreshed and much more at ease. I wish everyone had the same opportunity to get out and away in the midst of our current global nightmare.
Because for just those few quiet hours, the world felt normal again...
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