Nature Experiment

My experiment with nature began when I threw on my ugg boots, and my sweatshirt and headed outside the back door of my house. My backyard has changed alot in the last year. I have had the opportunity to see the rejuvenation of life after a wild fire, and the feat is simply spectacular.
In the past year, I have been too enveloped with my life at school, worrying about grades, friends, and the rest of my future. I regret not having stopped to enjoy my surroundings, and this experiment has satisfied some of these regrets. I decided to
bring my camera with me, and to share with everyone some of the changes over the past year, from the week after the fire, to how my backyard is teeming with life now.
In taking my walk around the yard, I was trying to find a place where I could sit and enjoy nature, somewhere away from civilization. First, I stepped past the sheltered line of our back lawn, into the woodchips, and watched the clouds roll in over the slightly ashen sides of the vast canyon below. As much as I enjoyed this scenery, I couldn't help but notice the home developments some miles away that were spoiling my escape.
Uneasy about this interruption, I moved around the side of the house to our front lawn. I sat down on the brick walkway, and listened to the dew drops dripping from the golden leaves above. I soon became uneasy when I remembered the snake we had seen on that same pathway a couple months earlier. I decided it was time to move on.

Next I came across the front steps of our house. I sat down on the wet brick, and stared off into the rumbling charcoal sky, with the shadows of leaves from the tall eucalyptus trees. I still felt sheltered, under the covered porch, so I left.
I finally came across a haven. A tree sitting at the end of our lawn. A tree with which I saw two young deer prance around a week ago. I climb up the wet bark. (Almost slipping a few times.) I sat there for a time. I watched the clouds envelop the leaves above me, and I watch the whole world around me open up to this unforgiving sky. The crisp wind gently shifted my loose hair across my face. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the damp bark, listening to the dripping of the water around me. I was enclosed in my thoughts and yet I was open. I deserted all of my worries about finishing my homework, or making it on time to a christmas party, and became present in the moment.
Because of emerson, I was allowed to enjoy the world that was forming around me. I sat up in the tree, and watched the day to come to life. I truly value Emerson's ideas about nature as a rejuvenative and distilling entity.

I took these pictures. They portray the nature around my house.