Monday, April 19, 2010

EARTH DAY SABBATICAL...and beyond!

I've decided (again) to practice a bit of what I preach and take a 3-week sabbatical at Prairie Pond Woods starting on Earth Day.  Spring is the season I love the most...it used to be the Fall...but then I learned about all the LIFE that passes through overhead or comes back again after a long dormancy.  Once I started identifying and learning the names of migrating birds, wildflowers and other emerging creatures, as well as their specific habitats and behaviors, I was hooked.  Ignorance is definitely not bliss in nature.  Education only enhances the appreciation and understanding for what has been created as a gift to us all.  I plan to learn as many new things as possible while I'm there.

I have several other goals for this sabbatical (just how goal-oriented should one be during a sabbatical?).  One is to continue more diligently the breeding bird survey for my 10-square mile transect in Adams County.  Another is to post daily nature-journal entries on the blog...so brace yourselves for a lot of  notifications.  Another is to finish a short story submission for a writing contest due mid-May.  Plus, I plan to finish reading one 3D book (A Thousand Splendid Suns) and one CD book (The English Major). 

My last goal is less artsy-fartsy, less interesting and less fun...eat right and exercise at least 5 times per week (not just my rambling-discovery-walk kind of exercise...but the kind where I'm pleading for oxygen).  "They" say that to develop a good habit, it takes 3 weeks of repetition.  I'm putting "their" theory to the test during this down time...when I have no other commitments, no distractions, no stress, no TV and no bad food in the house to go along with it.  Do I dare take and post a "before" and "after" picture?  We'll see. 

I'll be back,

Cindy

1 comment:

Ferree Bowman Hardy said...

If you had a reaction box that said "JEALOUS/GREEN WITH ENVY" I'd check it. I'll settle for COOL. :)