Rainy December Weekend

Welcome to the Delaware-Raritan Canal on a cloudy Sunday afternoon in December. While the past 6 days have been quite bitter - a few with highs of only 35 degrees or so - today began with heavy rain and 50 degrees or so.
During a few hours in the middle of the day, when the air began to feel like downright spring like at 60 degrees, I went for quick walk on the canal.

It is now fully winter - if it had not rained all day, there probably would have been ice on the trees along the cinder canal trail.

The heavy clouds and brown grasses seemed a little sad in that they remind me that summer is now aways off in the future. While the season has had only a few very cold days, already I have had enough of being chilled and I begin to wonder what Christmas in Florida is like - I hear you can jump in the pool to cool off after opening presents.

Further, the power lines in a clearing along the trail reminded me of past seasons. Celebrating holidays in December is a long tradition, but only recently has electricity become available across the nation, and the world. Our we blind to our accomplishments? There is no way to truly know what the world was like for past generations, as only recently has the retention of information become so widespread. Paper deteriorates, but our electronic copies will live on for future generations.

Sure, I like to tease folks about their stream of consciousness blogs on Brittany Spears, but as these last few weeks pass by I feel the time to transition to a new, more text based blog has arrived. After all, there is nothing wrong with passing thoughts - it all depends on who is doing the thinking...

As I headed back to my vehicle, I say my footprints were the first on the trail since the rain.

I was thrilled to catch a photo of the muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) above. Coming around a bend, we both froze at the sight of each other, then he calmly swam away, vanishing underwater. I think the scaly tail of the muskrat is awesome because it has scales and moves like snake, swirling around behind them as they swim along. It is good to know that animals may still appear during the winter if conditions are right.As the year draws to the close, I have begun brainstorming ideas for my 2011 blog, which I plan to create via the Wordpress blogging platform. I have posted may great photos throughout 2010, and I am also considering a photo blog - you know what I mean: onward and up-ward!

Got faith?

I would like to write a blog about hiking. Hiking is an excellent activity. It requires few resources - only some footwear and trail to walk down, and I have both readily available. But my interest in hiking stems from my love of nature, which is a complicated matter.

The world is filled with environmentalists these days. I went to school to study ecology, and ended up with a Bachelors of Science in Natural Resources, and a Masters degree in Environmental Science. I wanted to study ecology because I thought it was an environmental science that would incorporate the big picture - that it would include people and landscapes, biotic and abiotic parts of the earth. I thought I had hit on the part of the environmental movement that would maintain some perspective from an aloof, scientific vantage point in an emotionally charged science.

Let’s just say that things didn’t work out the way I thought. I did learn a lot about the environmental movement though, and I can confirm that there is a lot of debate both over what environmentalism is, what environmental problems there are and, of course, the best way to solve them. But this is no hindrance to writing a blog – in fact, the environmental movement has spawned thousands of blogs already. The real problem I have is whether or not to include my religious beliefs in my posts.

This is a big decision for me. I have a lot of faith, and I’d like to share it with the world. But I don’t want to detract from my environmental subject matter with constant explanations of exactly what I believe. I’ve been wrestling with this question all week and I’ve come to the conclusion that my meditation, Reiki and countless other New Age activity teachers all have the right idea: its best to practice your craft publically while leaving religion to each individual. So my personal beliefs will remain, for the purposes of this blog, undefined. This way there’s no worries about resolving every theological issue before things can move forward. I hope you don’t mind. I have it in mind to create an entirely independent blog completely devoted to alternative religion, but that is for the future. I think it’s time to hit the trail.

Up.

Up. For me, it answers a lot of questions.

Such as, where should the amount of money in my savings account be going? I want it to go up. Where should I be moving on the corporate ladder? Up. When we move from a good place to a better place, we call it movin' on up.

But other things move up to. Such as, what is happening to my total amount of credit card debt? It goes up every month despite my best efforts. Also, what is happening to my age? Let me tell you, it's going up - I wasn't completely ready to turn 30 this year. Maybe we look up and think of flying, but we're still on the ground thinking about it.

So up can be where we wish or don't wish to go. I can say that looking up, moving up, is still moving and where there is movement there is change. And change is eternal. If I have to move, I want to keep moving up.