16 days! How cool!

Thanks to the woman who suggested at her blog that we all post for 37 days.


Back when I started this blog, I was pretty insistent that we all spend time outside. (It was summer at the time.) Now, in the DC area, we are in deep Spring. And it's vivid outside: green of many shades, cardinals passing through, robins by the metric ton, dandelions everywhere.

We forget that we're mammals. We evolved to be in the natural world. A lot of us go from car, to work, to car, to home, and barely feel the outdoor temperature. It is really important for our health -- physical, emotional, spiritual -- to spend time outdoors. Even those of us who are pressed for time can stand at the door of the car and breathe for a few minutes. Better still is a walk through a natural setting. Bloomingwriter (bloomingwriter.blogspot.com) has a post dated 16 April 2009. about Pine Grove in Nova Scotia which if anything else should convince you. Our oldest cathedrals are outdoors: think of Yosemite in the United States, a holy place if there was ever one. The Great Plains speak to our savannah heritage. My all-time favorite, still, even after Yosemite, is Rocky Mountain National Park, a few hours north of Denver.

Yes, this post is all over the place. But everywhere we travel, whether the Chesapeake Watershed or Northern California, there is holy space for us mammals to experience.

Go outdoors and breathe. Please. You'll be much better for it.