Usually the Same, But Always Different

I take a “shoot a bunch now, purge later” approach to picture taking on our walks. 90% of these probably need purged.

When we take our neighborhood walks, we usually walk the same path. You’d think after a year and a half, it’d get boring, but the kids and I don’t mind it. We’ve learned that if we stay alert, we’re likely to find something new or changed from the last walk.

Maybe it’s an unknown birdsong we hear, a wildflower that’s arrived with a change in the temperature, or realizing that weird-looking squirrel in a neighbor’s yard is, in fact, a citrus rat (EEEK!).

It’s discovering a bird we’ve never seen before, finding Sheddy the Raccoon’s treetop hangout, or finding a bunny burrow and seeing where the grass has been munched down by them.

It’s the creativity our walks lead to, like when we realize how many different birds we see in our neighborhood, which leads to us imagining all the birds as various cliques, groups, and staff at “Bird High School”, or the children’s story we made up about a lonely gallinule celebrating its birthday and the ducks who end up joining him.

This isn’t to say our walks are these beautiful, idyllic moments of being one with nature, steeped in educational growth and intellectual discourse. There’s talk about Minecraft, Netflix shows, Roblox, and world events. There’s arguments, complaints about the weather, dropped breakfasts, ant bites, etc. You know, regular life, typical kid stuff. But within all of that are these great moments of noticing, of discovery, and of creativity. It's taking note of the little things about our surroundings and each other.

And it might be my favorite part of our homeschool days.

Suburban Wastelands

At least a few mornings a week, we go for neighborhood walks. We live in the suburbs, so it’s mostly single-family homes and landscaped yards, but when we pay attention, we find there’s plenty of nature around us. Our favorite spots are areas the county property appraiser’s office designates as “Wasteland/Marsh”. I find it sad that areas lacking commercial value are labeled “wastelands”, but for the critters in our area, I’m happy they have these spaces.

We visit places like the “nature preserve” around the corner. It’s an overgrown runoff pond in our neighborhood, full of trees and underbrush. This “preserve” appeared after years of neglect by the surrounding owners who are responsible for its upkeep. And while some neighbors are mad about it, I kind of love that we have this fenced area of “protected forest” for the birds and critters to live undisturbed. When we walk by, I always stop and listen for any new birds that have moved in or are visiting the neighborhood. Once upon a time this area also used to be a haven for stray cats, but given their decline in population over the years, I think I know why the red-shouldered hawks hang out in our neighborhood.

There’s also our “walking path”, another “wasteland/marsh” separating two subdivisions that back up to each other. It’s on the side of the street without a sidewalk, where bunnies and turtles, birds, and other critters live. Throughout the seasons we have found and learned the names of several wildflowers, weeds, and invasive plants that grow in this area.

Finally, we have “Duck Pond” and “Gallinule Pond”, two runoff ponds in a neighboring subdivision. One is named for all the ducks in the area that start and end their days there, and the other is named for the gallinules that we saw for the first time ever.

Low-key they may be, but given the current state of the world and the need to stick close to home, I'm grateful for these neighborhood walks and our suburban wastelands.