Two Hours. A Lifetime.

Now and then people who know I have only two respite periods per week of two hours each, wonder how on earth I can get to enjoy such short times away from the house with no worries. And they do the math to see how many working hours I have in the week. I don't. I just know it's a lot.

Mostly I use the respite time to shop for groceries with time to actually think and study what's good in the produce department. But once in a while I'm all caught up and I can just play.

What happens then is that when two hours is all you have, you can cram a life into it! And it's all joy, like focusing on a single sunlit drop of water instead of insisting on having the whole ocean available.

Today a perfect October day coincided with one of my times off, and I spent the entire time at the Preserve, walking and marching and strolling and ambling and taking pictures



and watching gangs of warblers and tufted titmice and chickadees and other little fellers busily running their worlds. And the occasional groundhog trotting about purposefully.

I walked the longest trail all the way to the end, where there's a peninsula with a seat



of local stone, warmed today from the sun, where you can sit



and watch birds or the sun sparkling on the waves -- brisk wind today --



or just gaze and do nothing but be there. And look at the clouds and how fast they change in the wind







And see the sun slanting through the trees, lower down now in the sky.



And the red maples glowing in the smaller trees



And a tuft of down



caught in the grass. And find other benches in the sun






And take pictures to show your friends, to invite them in, to enjoy, too.

One of those times you know you'll remember and remember.