I should have started a nature blog years ago. I believe I may have tried to but had didn’t get very far. I’ve gotten much further with actually seeing a lot of nature since I started walking a lot so I’m 10 to 15 years ago after being laid off for a job I had for almost two decades. That was actually the last formal job I had and then ended up taking care of my elderly father who had Multiple Sclerosis.
I keep thinking my dad is the reason I had such an appreciation for nature, we always seem to be out in it. I spent a lot of time at a day camp in the suburbs where we explored of not a lot of nature and also where I went to school. I grew up in a suburb right outside of Boston Massachusetts where the Charles River was close to. On Sundays they would close part of Memorial Drive one of the main thoroughfares up to the Charles River Esplanade where a huge July 4th celebration is every summer. My dad would take us on bikes from our house in Belmont through Cambridge all the way utp to the Esplanade and back. I always grew up around the River, every town I lived in.
This last house I lived in with my Dad, the house he grew up in was in a neighborhood of Boston that the Charles River surrounded. His neighborhood was one of the last ones in this part of Boston right next to Cambridge, Harvard University athletic campus and Business School. Harvard had started building a lot around and into that neighborhood when we were living there. From this neighborhood I could walk or bike to different parts of the River which I often did. I love summer evenings walking or biking the paths along it. I began to notice the waterfowl that was always on or flying above the river. First years ago I identified the black Cormorant which would dive under the water for a very long time kind of like the only other bird I knew that did this, Loons. We also see them in town in the Boston Harbor. I would also notice another lbird flying up the river I didn’t recognize which I finally was an idea able to identify as Kingfishers, also later found out they were related to Australia’s Kookaburra. Then there were Great Blue Herons I’d see all over not just on the river but different ponds I’d Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge which is a famous not only some famous historical folk, the likes of Mary Baker Eddy , psychologist BF Skinner,Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and more, but also for the beauty in nature of it and is well known for birdwatchers. I’ve been going to the cemetery since I was a kid and we spend some science classes hunting around the ponds. I still go back because it’s such a beautiful place and in the spring particularly on Mother’s Day take my sister to spy all the pollywags, tadpoles and turtles in the ponds.
So this is how I began my nature Journey. I started to find all kinds of places to walk and surprisingly being right next to Boston there’s a lot to see. I discovered the parts of the Charles it go any further into the Suburbs, one that became one of my favorites books is in the large city of Newton where there’s Auburndale Park. The sun again the way the sun and water glint through the trees make it a very beautiful place where I’ve taken many photos. It used to be the place I would go on the first nice, warm day of the Season. There’s a little Conservation Area attached to it called Flowed Meadow which is some smaller Trails through swampy areas with a boardwalk and such. I found many other areas throughout places like Newton, Belmont wearing grew up and spent 30 years, habitat that I discovered as a child and went into with a childhood friend but I only thought it was only for members or something. I didn’t find out how much later on as an adult call Mom when I no longer live in Belmont so that we could just walk in and give a small donation. There’s also a small pond there that’s full of frogs and turtles and pollywogs as well and within the last year or so my sister and I saw a deer there for the first time. This part of Belmont there’s a couple of natural areas, one called Rock Meadow which is great to walk through also for birding and there’s a community garden I love to walk through because they seem to have the most beautiful flowers there. There’s also chickens and now sheep they keep out in one of The Meadows.
Outside of this I started to find a lot of places to walk and see nature by just looking at a map and if I saw water I would assume there were trails around and near it. The amount of places I’ve discovered this way is countless. It became an obsession to the point where when I’m driving with family they tell me to not get so distracted. It’s the same when I’m out walking dogs or just walking anywhere and I hear a bird I look up and then figure out what I’m hearing or seeing.
This blog I will try to include all since I didn’t keep track of it over the years except in photos. But now I see and hear something Everywhere I Go including around my own home this seems to be like a bird sanctuary which makes me very happy. Onward and forward into my beautiful Nature Niche.
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