Life

August 31, 2016

A Day for Play

It's not very often that I get to have a day off... between full time school and a part time job, I stay pretty busy. But last Thursday I decided to take the whole day off and do some fun things around town, particularly I wanted to do some things that I never have the time to do, and the best part was that Adam also had the day off, so we got to spend the day together too. So, I decided to document our day to add as a short and sweet life blog entry.

Who doesn't love pancakes?

I was able to get up and make some breakfast, which I never have time for in the mornings as I have to be at the hospital by 7 am each morning. So I relished in this opportunity and made us pancakes (my favorite  ^-^ ). We planned on going down to Falls Park and I thought it would be a wonderful idea to stop and grab some lunch to eat in the park, I can't remember the last time I was able to have a picnic. As we were out grabbing food I saw some trees that someone had apparently knitted tree warmers for, they were so cute I had to take a photo (sorry for poor photo quality, I was in a moving vehicle, passenger of course).

So we grabbed our food and drove downtown to Falls Park, which gets its name from the 100 foot waterfall created from the Big Sioux River. It originally opened in 1881 as a hydro powered mill but has since closed down and has turned into a local tourist spot.

 

We ate our pitas in the park, and I have to say it was very tranquil (despite a passing train). It was nice to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather, to just sit and relax for a bit. After a bit we decided to climb the tower and get some pictures of the Park from the top, it's a beautiful view and we could even see the Cathedral from there!

 

We then took our turn getting our pictures taken in front of the Falls.

Afterwards we spent a few hours perusing several of the small shops downtown and stopped into a small local bakery for some cupcakes (only after I had eaten it did I think to take a picture, sorry!)

To end our day out we stopped at the store and got the ingredients to make some delicious homemade chicken and vegetable ramen. 

So there you have it, I know that it may not seem very exciting; we didn't go anywhere exotic, we didn't even leave the outskirts of the city. But we had fun just spending the day together, and taking a little break from  ordinary life for awhile.

 Take time for yourself, spend time with people you love, see beauty in ordinary things.   

August 14, 2016

Nature Walk

Today I took the time to go on a nature walk on my city's local trails. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and I definitely needed the time outside in the fresh air; away from the sounds of traffic and away from my impending schoolwork, if only for a little while.

As someone who grew up on a small farm in the middle of nowhere, nature is something I took for granted, because it was always there. Living in the city now has taken a bit of getting used to, hearing the passing of cars instead of the chirping of birds and seeing airplanes instead of stars. The utter silence is what I miss most of all, it's not that there was ever an absence of sound, anyone who takes a walk in nature knows that it is never really silent, but there's a feeling of slowness and peace, purposeful silence in an unsilent world.

I used to take walks through the woods often when I was growing up, it was one of my favorite things to do, and as an only child I was used to being solitary and spending a lot of time by myself (especially when you lived far away from any other kids). Nature was a place for imagination and possibilities, I could entertain myself for hours with nothing but the forest and my own thoughts. Sometimes when the days get long, I find myself looking back on moments like these, and like most people do, yearn for a time when the only responsibility you had was to be home before dark. 

Even the short walk I was able to take today helped me to clear my mind and I felt a little better about all of my upcoming papers, tests, finals and other impending responsibilities and frustrations. I only took a couple of pictures (two seen above) because I didn't want to spend the whole time looking through the lens of a camera, but to see it with my own eyes. Life is a little bit like that too, especially in a world where anything you need is literally in the palm of your hand. So lift your head once in awhile and look, really look. Put down the world in the palm of your hand and see the beautiful one right in front of you.

 See beauty in humble places. Take a deep breath of clean air and slow down a little bit, don't miss out on life. And most of all, take the time to be happy.

Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where others see nothing.

-Camille Pissarro