Walk With Me is an ongoing video series where I invite you to join me while I take some time to check in with myself. It’s all spontaneous, just like Somatic Experiencing — I like to slow down and see where my mind and body take me. I hope you enjoy watching the video or reading the transcript below, and thanks for spending a moment of your day with me.
Hi, it’s me again. I’m back. I am out on the trail and I’ve actually been walking for a little while, trying to figure out what I could talk about. The stuff that’s in my head is about asking for help and asking for support, but I keep finding myself just coming back to being here on the trail.
So I was thinking I would talk about what I’m seeing instead of what’s going on in my head, because what I’m seeing is what’s going on in my head right now. So let’s see. I’m gonna back up just a little bit here.
This, is a teeny little pond that is what they call a vernal pool. And that means that it, has water in it only for part of the year, kind of fall, winter, spring, and then it dries up in the summer. And so it’s also one of those places that frogs and salamanders and toads and all the little amphibians like to lay their eggs.
So in the spring, it gets very busy in there. You can hear all the frogs and stuff. And early fall, I’m hearing… let’s see. I’m hearing insects. I’m not as good at insect identification as some things. So I know some of them are crickets, and some of them are grasshoppers, and some of them are other things.
Last week or the beginning of this week, when I was out here, I was hearing spring peepers because you can actually hear them at all times of the year. If they thaw out in the winter, they’ll sometimes peep, but I was hearing them a lot last week when it was hot.
I’m hearing the wind through the white pines, which is very soothing to me. I’m hearing a bird here and there, and I’m hearing traffic from a little ways away. I’m glad that it’s a little ways away and not right next to us, but, it’s still on my radar.
I’m smelling very little, actually. I think that’s part of that’s the wind. Part of it’s the fact that it rained the last 2 days and everything’s kind of got that washed clean.
When I came out when it first started to rain a couple days ago, I didn’t come out here, but when I was out in my yard, it was very, what’s the word? Petrichor. The smell of rain or the smell of the, I don’t know. It’s either the smell of rain or the smell of the land, ground. Anticipating the rain.
I don’t remember. We’ve all read that meme a gazillion times. Right? But I can’t remember exactly what it is, but I do know that’s the term for it.
So it smelled really… almost like you could taste it. It was like a little bit dirt, a little bit mushroomy, a little bit gross, a little bit awesome. It’s pretty cool. And right now, it just everything just smells clean.
And you can probably tell I’m walking in and out of sunlight, and that’s beautiful. It’s nice to have that sun after a couple days of rain. And just like the last time I was out here, I’m looking at the changes as autumn happens. There’s these again, the ferns are continuing to turn bronzy.
They turn golden, and then they turn bronze. And I just love that. We’re right by the stream again. There’s a blue jay calling. And I love birch trees. So I’m just looking at that birch tree. I love that tree. After 2 days in, it’s lovely to be out where it’s the temperature is just gorgeous, and I felt pent up inside.
I’ve also been dealing with a lot of my– I have chronic pain condition, and I’ve been dealing with a ton of pain the last several days. And just being out here, I don’t, I can’t… I’m taking a pause for a second to see. I still feel some of the pain, but it’s, like, pushed to the back because I’m just so thrilled to be out here. I don’t know.
You can probably see…There you go. This orangey tree that was not orangey the last time I was out here. It’s that time of year where it’s like every moment is different, kinda like the spring. Every moment is different. So cool.
I just recorded the first episode with a couple of friends of a new podcast YouTube series thing where we just chat, and it was super fun. I’m really excited about it. It’s gonna be called the Hive Queens.
And we’re doing that thing where it’s not gonna be…the first episode isn’t gonna be aired for, or is gonna go live for, I don’t know, nine, ten weeks now. So this is just one of those things that’s in the works, but it’s in my head. It’s fun to chat with people that you enjoy.
I’m walking along the river again. See. It’s funny, with my little bitty camera screen or phone screen, it’s hard to even see if you can see the river because there’s so much reflection. After two days, the river is nice and full, and it hasn’t been all summer.
Other years, last year, we had a ton of rain all summer, and this year we haven’t, which among other things means that I am likely to get good honey from my bees, providing– oh, look at all that water. Yeah. Providing there’s honey that the bees can spare, I will get good honey.
Last year the water content was pretty high, so I couldn’t even share the honey with anybody because it was kind of fermenty. Like, I used it. I ate it. But I couldn’t really share it. I just heard a raven. Love them.
I think that… so I’m just hearing a little peep-peep-peep. I think that’s a spring peeper. That’s a tree frog. I think tree frog. I don’t… maybe it’s a toad. I used to know all these things down pat, and it’s really interesting to realize that I am less and less analytical, maybe.
That’s not true. But I’m less interested in cataloging everything. I’m more interested in experiencing it. So even birding is different than it used to be.
Now I’m getting the smell of warm sun-baked, kind of, which is lovely. Giving you all a chance to see woods instead of just the path. I’ll show you in a second. But on the left here, last year, they did some clear cutting. I hated it. It made me so upset.
It’s starting to grow back a little bit, which is really nice. Here. You can almost see it through the woods here. You can see it just gets really bright back there. So sad. It’s town lands. They’re gonna do what they’re gonna do.
I can’t do anything about it, but I hate it. I just hate it. But up here, it’s really close to the trail, and I think there’s even an easy place to step up in there.
And then the the phone will adjust for the light. The camera will adjust for the light. You’ll actually be able to see. You know, in here, it’s just dappled and beautiful. And then we get to this place where it’s been opened up and cut.
And this is really typical for around here. There’s other places in the country, in the world, where they do clear cuts and they take acres and acres. But this is actually an area where they kind of take some. Like, they kind of drive a channel through the woods and take a swath through and don’t take everything.
I mean, obviously, they take everything, but they they weave, like this stand here. So they came from in there, they came down here, and then went around, and then went up that way a bit. And I think behind this little stand they did some more cutting.
But look at how fast. This was last year. This was, I guess last summer. I think it was last summer. And look at how fast the succession happens. Right? So we’ve got grass which is really impressive. I don’t know where the grass comes from. I don’t know if they planted it.
But right at my feet, there’s a ton of brambles, like dewberries and raspberries and blackberries. And these are things that just come up immediately here. It’s just amazing how fast nature takes back over.
But you can also see that tree right there, and this tree here, and this tree, when the trees around them are taken down, they fall over. They’ve got nothing holding them up anymore. They’ve got too much light. Too much, more light than they were ready for.
So a lot of trees break or bend, especially that first winter. But these trees in the middle here that they’re ostensibly, I guess, saving. I don’t know why they’d be saving them, but saving them for another clear cutting year.
Not only were their root systems smooshed, they were probably hit by the the trucks and the equipment, the heavy equipment that came through. So their trunks will be hurt, injured, but, they’re gonna be hard pressed to be able to stand without here you can see.
You can watch them, the trees blowing in the wind. Right? And with a full canopy, they kind of rub into each other so they don’t they don’t blow as far as those trees are. You know, even just looking at these trees, it’s not like the wind isn’t hitting them.
You can see them doing a little bit of movement, but they’re not going as far. So trees depend on each other kinda like we do. That’s so funny. You know, when stuff’s up up in your mind. Right? So, like, I’m thinking about how much we depend on other people, and I was talking about groups last time.
And this week, I’ve been thinking about asking for help and support. And that’s what these trees are in need of. It’s support from their fellows. So I’m gonna leave you thinking about support as we come back into the dappled, beautiful area.
I hope that was helpful or enjoy– yeah. Helpful. Enjoyable. I hope that was enjoyable. Let me know if you found it enjoyable.
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