America the Beautiful

Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small.
We haven't time, and to see takes time -
like to have a friend takes time.
~ Georgia O'Keffe

(Sunset along the beach in Crescent City, California.)

I’ve never was a “nature girl…or so I thought. Growing up, my mom would joke--sort of--that she’d “go camping at the Hilton.” We’d go to the beach on the weekends, but I was only a kid and didn’t really think about nature or how lucky I was to grow up near the ocean. I was focused on the fun of it all--swimming and building sand castles and soaking up the sun. What I wouldn’t give to live near that ocean now.

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(Both big and small in the Redwoods.)

Until graduate school, I never went out of my way to be in nature. Sitting on my back porch and walking in my neighborhood seemed good enough. But then, something changed. I started walking the trails in Tallahassee and canoeing the nearby waterways. Every once in a while I'd drive 90 minutes to spend the day on the beach St. George Island. Increasingly, I began to really look at my surroundings. I wasn’t thinking about the day or going for exercise. I was there to be in nature. I was there just to be. It was unexpectedly liberating.


(These roses looked gorgeous, but it was the scent that hooked me. Sort of grapefruity.)

After graduate school, I’d walk along the river in Tulsa most nights, watching the water and light change with the time of day and the season. That’s when I realized there really were hundreds of shades of green. I snorkeled in Thailand, hiked in Morocco, and kayaked in Belize. Bit by bit, the pieces added up: I was, in fact, a “nature girl.” Who knew?

(A view from the Portland International Rose Test Garden.)

Someone recently asked me where I went to church this past Easter. I replied that I went to the “Church of Radnor Lake.” I wasn’t joking. Instead of the usual Sunday service, I wanted to be in the hills, looking at swaths of purple larkspur, and trying to catch a glimpse of the deer in the woods or along the lake.

God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone,
but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars.
~Martin Luther

Students sweetly teased me this morning about videos that I took in the Redwoods: a big banana slug eating a leaf, clover blowing in the breeze, and three tiny streams that all dripped into a pool at different rates causing what I called a “stream symphony.” I know, I know, it sounds silly. But…I must have listened to it for 10 minutes. P-lunk, p-lunk, p-lunk. Plunkplunkplunkplunkplunk. Pluuuuuuuuunk. Pluuuuuuuuuunk. Pluuuuuuuuuunk. I was a little spellbound, really. Dante once said something like “Nature is the art of God” and as I consider the natural beauty we’ve seen on this trip, that idea rings true to me.

(The sunset from atop Seattle's Space Needle.)

This trip also has me thinking about the huge disconnect many of us experience as we traverse the concrete jungle each day going to and fro. In Los Angeles, we took two trips that, while just around 20 miles, took us nearly 2 hours to make given the traffic. In Vegas, we were surrounded by lots of lights, but unable to see any stars. In Memphis we watched ducks waddle down a carpet in a big, fancy hotel rather than in a lake somewhere.

(Sunset in El Paso, Tx.)

Likewise, back at home, I often sit at my desk for 10 or 12 hours a day. I have a window that looks out over a mighty oak and I have a light bulb that mimics full-spectrum sunlight. But, I have come to the realization that I need to be in nature -- not just view it from inside a window. Increasingly I’m making time to hike a few times a week and I’m thinking about buying a kayak when I get home. I realize that while I’ve been interested in getting out on the water, I haven’t been committed. There’s a big difference between the two.

(The Grand Canyon. This shot doesn't do it any justice.)


I’ve enjoyed visiting the cities we’ve seen and talking with so many different kinds of people on this trip. I’ve loved being with our students and my colleague, Ken. And, I look forward to seeing New York, Chicago, and Minneapolis. But, I’m pretty sure a big part of what I’ll remember about our adventure will be the amazing natural sights we’ve seen. And the song, "America the Beautiful" will never be the same for me again.

I thank you God for this most amazing day,
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees,
and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural,
which is infinite, which is yes.
~e.e. cummings

(A field of roses...my inner garden nerd was in heaven.)

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.
~John Muir

Watching clouds roll by
on a sunny day
Who needs church?
Nature is divine.
~Carrie Latet