"I Live In A World Of Wonders‏"

Those words were part of a reflection that showed up today on my daily meditation calendar.   I read them, thought they were nice, then moved on with my day.  After a chiropractor appointment I was dropping my car off at the shop to get some work done.  My plan was to walk home (about two miles, which would also take care of the day's exercise) then tackle a list of things around the house.

It's been raining for days, but when my alarm went off the sun was shining and I thought maybe we'd get a chance to dry out.  However, by the time I left the house at 8:45 it was drizzling again.  I grabbed a backpack from the closet and threw a travel raincoat and a water bottle in it.  I put my drivers license, charge card, and a couple of dollars in one shorts pocket and my cell phone in the other.  As I left, Son Donald told me to call him if I decided I wanted a ride home.

The rain was still coming down in a steady drizzle when I dropped off my car at the shop, but that didn't stop me.  I put the  raincoat and started  on my way.  It only took me a couple of minutes to realize that the coat's plastic coating that kept the water out kept the body heat in.  Since it wasn't raining hard I took the coat off and let the drops fell where they would.

I took a shortcut through a park, and listened to some kids having a great time playing in the rain.  As I walked under some large trees I was surprised to see that the ground underneath them was still dry.  I exited the park, went down a hill, and turned left onto a large street.  At first this street is lined with houses fronted by nicely-tended yards, but it quickly changes to a new section they installed fifteen years ago  (when they removed  two 90 degree turns and a narrow bridge over a small creek from the original road).  The new section has sidewalks, a long concrete retaining wall, and a modern bridge.

In this section the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street morphed from nicely tended to natural.  Because I was walking instead of driving I was able to notice all of the wonders.  The green was a mixture of crabgrass and annual weeds, with some of the weeds showing their colors.  There was white clover and red clover.  I passed a few dandelions and the tiny yellow pompom flowers of black medic, and saw some lovely Queen Anne's lace and my first chicory blooms of the year.  If I hadn't been paying attention I would have missed the tiny red fruits of wild strawberry weed and the pink blooms of smartweed.

After I passed the retaining wall and went over the bridge I walked by a section bordered by a tall chain link fence on the left.  There was a small wild grape vine winding its tendrils around the links, and another mature one drooping over the top.  A large trumpet honeysuckle was covered with beautiful coral blooms, but some aggressive bush honeysuckle was right next to it.   Once I passed the fence the landscaping went back to suburban.  I turned off into my subdivision and finished the trip home.  The temperature was in the mid-70s, but the humidity made it feel much warmer.  When I got home my clothes were damp, as much from sweat as from rain.  However, it was all 'wonder-ful'.