August 14, 2019

"She inspired me so much, it helped me to slow down. The way she would notice the little things like the colour of the mushrooms on the ground."

"I was focused on goals, like climbing the mountain, but sometimes it's not all about the epic views, it's about enjoying those little moments too."

From "Why this 89-year-old is visiting every US national park with her grandson" (BBC). There's also the question why would a young, strong person would travel to grand and extreme landscapes with a companion who is slower and less stable and vigorous.

P1020046

That's my own photograph of mushrooms, noticed on a walk in 2010 in the Apostle Islands National Seashore. It's good to see the small things within the big.

P1020035

P1020042

19 comments:

Sharc 65 said...

Witch's Lung at the bottom. The small one is Devil's Toothpick.

gilbar said...

Lots of people hike up hills and mountains, looking ONLY at their feet. Then, when they get to the top; they glance around, and say: Let's go down.

Bringing an anchor with you, COULD help you enjoy the roses (or 'shrooms)

Darrell said...

I hope the Guardian called Jimbino to berate her about the lack of minorities at the parks.

Howard said...

It's good to see the small things within the big.

The best advise to mapping geologic structures in the field was "small mimics large". It's that whole Nietzschean particle-wave duality thing. Granularity is important.

JML said...

I need to start me up one of them Go Fund Me things. I got wants and needs. You should pay for them.

Ann Althouse said...

Another $ issue: If you bring a senior with you, you pay once for a senior pass and you get in on that pass with everyone else in your car in every national park as long as you've got that senior with you. I think it's $80 now, but it was only $12 a few years ago when I got mine. Bring me with you and we can go to all the parks as long and as often as you want and never pay. That's a reason to bring an old person!

Darrell said...

That's a reason to bring an old person!

Another is that you can sell them to a Mexican cartel when the trip's over. They always need product packer/slaves.

Rusty said...

Well. Two of those are edible.
What gets me is that people set goals on their nature hikes/runs and then put ear buds on and they miss a lot. Go out to your favorite spot in the woods or on the prairie and just sit and listen. Sounds can teach you a lot. And then check yourself for ticks.

Rusty said...

Blogger Ann Althouse said...
"Another $ issue: If you bring a senior with you, you pay once for a senior pass and you get in on that pass with everyone else in your car in every national park as long as you've got that senior with you. I think it's $80 now, but it was only $12 a few years ago when I got mine. Bring me with you and we can go to all the parks as long and as often as you want and never pay. That's a reason to bring an old person!"

A few years ago I got a lifetime pass for all our national parks for ten bucks. It excludes some national monuments.

Oso Negro said...

I reacted badly to turning 60. On reflection, it seemed to me that I had always been future-oriented, working for, or thinking about things that might be. At 50, I could tell myself I was "halfway" there, but at 60, I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't see living to 120 or the possibility of being happy if I do. I had to accept that my future was mostly used up. Over the next couple years, I re-oriented myself to the present. I still have plans, and think what's coming down the road, but I am focused on, and enjoying the here and now a lot more. That has been a mercy.

Fernandinande said...

Fun fact: Fungi are more closely related to animals than they are to plants.

gilbar said...

Darrell said...
Another is that you can sell them to a Mexican cartel when the trip's over.


yes, BUT; then you won't (legally be able to use that pass anymore), far more better to just KEEP the old person, and then pick up some illegals while you're down south and have them pay for the trip. Pro tip: the oldster is EXCELLENT camouflage for smuggling; you can tell the ICE man that the mexicans are grannie's nurses

gilbar said...

OH! and if your contraband is in chemical form; you can put the dope in grannie's purse, under her depends. They probably won't check it, and if they do: it's not like you only have ONE grandmother

Narr said...

Fern, I know, I have cousins in the crawlspace.

Narr
Funguy!

Skippy Tisdale said...

"There's also the question why would a young, strong person would travel to grand and extreme landscapes with a companion who is slower and less stable and vigorous."

Because the old person is paying.

Maillard Reactionary said...

Fernandistein: "Fun fact: Fungi are more closely related to animals than they are to plants."

I knew they looked familiar.

My people!

Must be why I like the woods so much.

Sydney said...

OsoNegro said:
Over the next couple years, I re-oriented myself to the present. I still have plans, and think what's coming down the road, but I am focused on, and enjoying the here and now a lot more. That has been a mercy.

Thank you for that insight. At 57, I have been thinking I am closer to the end than to the beginning. It has been making me sad. I’m going to try to reorient myself to live in the present.

Narr said...

I'm 66, life half over.

Narr
But do I let that get me down?

PluralThumb said...

I knew this cat named Fungus.