In my Nature Notebook...

10/16/2021

Shaker Village Canterbury NH, Photo Laurie Bestvater

"A Man can muster a variety of reasons when he goes for a walk. It's a nice day. He needs the exercise. He hasn't' been out in the park, or the fields, or the woods, for quite a while. He wants a breath of fresh air, needs to stretch his legs.
Excuses, all of them, and good enough. But they aren't reasons. The reasons are both personal and complicated. How can you explain that you need to know that the trees are still there, and the hills and the sky? Anyone knows they are. How can you say it is time your pulse responded to another rhythm, the rhythm of the day and the season instead of the hour and the minute? No, you cannot explain. So you walk." Hal Borland

2 Comments

Jamie

9/23/2023 11:29:28 am

This is lovely. I know it is an older post, but is there any possibility you could share what work it is from? My attempts at searching out the quotation were baffled, and it seems from the wiki page that Hal Borland was a prolific writer so I don't think I can hope to stumble upon it by hunting down one or two of his books (though I will probably do that anyway).

Laurie

9/25/2023 04:49:11 pm

Hi Jamie,

This passage is found in a collection called "Hal Borland's Twelve Moons of the Year" under October 10. "The Walk." Glad you enjoyed it. LB

"Ideas
won't keep; something must be done about them."
- Alfred Whitehead

A Charlotte Mason education leads to all kinds of ideas! Join me in keeping one or several of the notebooks she prescribed and discover the Science of Relations and the Art of Mindfulness.

Laurie

"Perhaps this is one of the secrets of life--to know 'glory' when we see it."
--Charlotte Mason

Virtual Life?

A wee explanation: this website was created as a way to amplify the daily surprise of seeing glory in one small life. The notebook entries represented here are all selected from things actually lived and noted on paper in an effort to live the full life British educator Charlotte Mason so ably championed.

In Appreciation
Photos chosen are linked to their original posts in most cases because I have found something of value there and hope my readers will likewise find a helpful resource. In the case of miss-attribution or if you desire your work not be linked, please let me know.

In My Notebook...