Nature Walk

As I walk through my backyard in Covington I touch, see, hear, and smell nature in ways that are absent in my everyday lifestyle. Away from the cars, cell phones, and streets I am able to focus and take notice. To start my observations, I lie on my hammock and look up. There are plenty of tall pine trees all around. I have never noticed how odd the bark looks on these trees. They look like broken puzzle pieces that are glued to a base. They are rough, brittle, with jagged edges. If I look close enough, I can see the small black ants that crawl up and down the pine trees where the hammock it tied on. They do not come on to the ropes by me. No attention is paid to my existence, they keep crawling. One by one behind one another while a select few carry those strange crumbs.
Even though I cannot feel the wind due to the trees and heat, I know it is blowing because I can hear it ruffle the branches above. Pine needles are falling from the top branches. They fall with grace, swaying the whole way down. When the needles land they lay perfectly and lightly on top of the grass, creating piles over time. These must be the piles my mother complains about that never get raked. Their beauty and grace is only an obstacle to overcome. Looking up at the top of the trees, wondering what a pine cone actually is draws me to notice the sky and birds above them.
There are a good bit of clouds out today. White, very condensed, and powder-like they fade at the edges until there is a formed shape.
I get up and decide to walk around while observing. On the other trees, between the empty branches, there are brown, green, and brown/green leaves. They too fall with the wind. However, these are pushed in the direction of the pool. Lightly each one touches the clam water making ripples and the wind pushes them all across the pool to the curved edge. There they gather. These must be the piles my mother complains about that mess up the pool.
My dogs are let outside and instantly come running to me and begin to lick my legs. Merlin, my chocolate lab, is quickly drawn away by a bight yellow butterfly. I laugh as he watches in amazement but then notice, I am doing the same. The butterfly moves like the leaves that fall from the top of the trees. It always seems like a butterfly is lost, they travel back and forth as if they are unsure of where to go, but just as fast as butterflies appear, they are gone. I continue to walk; the ground is uneven with a few ant piles, which I try to avoid. As I continue my journey I stop to feel and smell the grass, flowers, and this odd shaped tree. It has such a strange potent smell. Eventually, I reach the wooden fence that confines my "nature."
It stops me dead in my tracks even though the grass below and sky above continue to my neighbor's side. I wonder what the irony of a wooden gate is as opposed to a metal or steel one. Maybe it stands for the fact humans have manipulated nature to do what it pleases; even close off the very thing it stands for. It dawns on me that humans place themselves where they like, as well as, nature. The trees that are in my backyard were selected to stay and not be cut down. However, as soon as they move in any way that was not intended it's not viewed as a positive thing. The pine needles that cover the ground, the leaves that clutter the pool are nothing but a nuisance. I am not forced to follow alongside this gate back to the door out of which I came.