Balance

Like a rock tumbler, thoughts have rolled and rolled around in my mind as to what to share about “this” month (I intended to submit this in February). And if you’ve ever tumbled rocks to polish them, you know firsthand how obnoxiously noisy the process is. That’s what’s going on in my head; too much movement. I am pretty certain that I took my January reflections to heart, that I would not take time for granted and for me that meant I began to do things that have been put off in the past. I took a Line Dance lesson, G & I are registered for regular classes to become Indiana Master Naturalists, I attended a daylong workshop to help me to identify my Charisms and last but not least I’ve registered for two retreats. Yes, please laugh with me! For sure, as I noted for myself in my last blog, I am not being careless with my time and I have very intentionally mapped out where to exert my energies beyond family commitments. But there lies the problem, too much of a good thing can cast the balance off. This season of Lent has naturally assisted me in regrouping and I identified where the hole is, silence. So for Lent I am adding Sacred Silence to my To Do list. I have given myself permission to simply be, quietly. A way to find balance in a noisy world.

I also realized, by filling my calendar with different activities than from this time last year when we were finding new places to explore, that I have very much missed the opportunities to be out hiking, never mind the weather. We are carving time out again for those adventures. So far this year we have simply revisited some parks we’ve hiked before but we have some big new adventures on the horizon so that is fun to look forward to. But in the meantime, between all these classes, workshops and lessons, we ventured up to northern Indiana and stayed at the Potawatomi Inn at Pokagon State Park located in Angola. We enjoyed a couple days away, having fresh scenery out the window. We had the chance to visit with family, get in a long hike on a warm February day, and to simply explore a little bit around that NE corner of Indiana. When we stopped at Pokagon last year it was only a brief visit for a picnic lunch and a short hike so it was nice to find an interesting trail to explore on this trip. We took off toward Lake Lonidaw and took the trail 3 loop, finding our way to Hell’s Point, the highest point in the park. Very happy to have found this peak by traversing up the hill gradually instead of having to climb the steps we instead got to descend. At the peak of Hell’s Point is an explanation of the unique landform we were standing over on the platform, a kame. A new vocab for me, a kame is formed as a glacier melts. The melt water carry rocks, sand, and gravel from the top of the glacier into a hole that’s formed and they accumulate in a cone-shaped mound. The effect the glaciers had on our landscape is amazing to see. Coincidentally at our last DNR class we learned even more about how glaciers impacted the Indiana landscape.

It was during our visit last year to Pokagon that we witnessed a swan attack baby goslings. To my surprise we spotted the swans again off in the distance and the sand cranes that liked to hang out just outside the Inn were there too. With this trip being in the winter the toboggan run was still running, although we decided for the sake of our spines that we would pass on taking a trip down the hill.

Our lastest hike took us down to Eagle Creek as it winds itself through Zionsville, at this point, in Starkey Park. Getting out on the trail and feeling the sunshine on my face makes me realize just how much I’ve missed the outdoors these last several weeks. But the good news is that meteorological spring arrived this week! Looking forward to many more outdoor adventures.