One Year Study - WMP Prairie

If you're anything like me, you love the outdoors, you love each season for their individual charms, and you find a great peace out amongst the birds and trees. It's so easy to get caught up in the immediate world that we forget how we got there - forgot what has come before. We look around and take the fluffy goldenrod for granted where as one month ago we were awed by the golden glow atop tall stems. Spring always surprises us with the delicate flowers that seem to appear just as the snows melt. 
Every time I go through the one year studies I'm working on, it's almost like time traveling; the mind and senses remember each day distinctly and suddenly you get a sweeping overview of what a year looks like, how it all comes together, and the lessons we can learn by knowing things move in cycles. 
It's interesting, and this may be more personal than I'd like to put on here, we'll see if it stays, but by understanding the cycles of nature, seeing that things are predictable but not everything is on the same time as everything else, has opened my eyes to my own personal cycles - times of the year when I feel ambitious, depressed, focused, lost, and decide to make big life changes. By watching nature from afar and seeing how, year after year things move in different ways, but always the same, I was able to step outside of myself and see how my body does the same thing, only on a different scale. It's not enough to know there are cycles, but to see each one, how it moves, what the point of each one is, then it makes the bad days not so bad, it builds a heartfelt appreciation for the good days, and allows space from the days of desperation and need of change.
I guess what I'm saying is, nature, while we think we're learning and observing one thing, can open different worlds to us, ones we didn't know existed or that we needed to see. 

The Kenwood Prairie out at Wooster Memorial Park has been a project I've been working on since finishing the Trillium Trail in February. I had hoped from my vantage point to be able to capture the wildflowers that bloom at the front of the property, and the construction as it happens, but alas, even at the highest point I didn't get either of those. However, it is still a lovely section, who knows, maybe after we get a big snow we'll be able to see the new paths! 
​For a write-up about each month, read on here!