They're Gone...

And I helped them leave. We packed the trailer on Saturday morning, said goodbye on Saturday night, and would have waved goodbye on Sunday morning if we had gotten out of bed in time. Alison and Jerry have left for Seattle. This may not seem like it is a nature post, but it is because it brings back so many memories of the urban nature we saw together over years as we ran miles and miles training for our half marathons. On Thursday evenings, we also ran together, after which we would return to our home for Indian food prepared by my husband, and for Alison and I anyway, the vice of reality tv. On our runs we saw a mink in the creek, oodles of bird species, including waterfowl, kingfishers and countless hawks. Some birds were alive and others were dead, especially after this winter’s late spring snowfall. We saw foxes, a skunk perambulating in the twilight, and several evenings a beaver swimming in a holding pond. We leapt over goose poop in spring and summer, and avoided squishing unidentified insects that traversed the trail. We ran past wild asparagus and wildflowers. Leaves changed color, fell, and then the trees leafed out in spring. The trees shaded us in summer and, when they lost their leaves, allowed the sun to warm us in winter. In keeping with our philosophy of running, and of course relieved for an excuse to rest even if momentarily, we would stop and watch the beaver, the hunting fox, the ducks. When we ran separately, we always reported back to each other what we had seen—a raccoon swimming in the river and disappearing into the rushes lining the creek, a dead baby raccoon, seemingly unmarked, and the three baby mink that Alison saw. My husband and I still plan on running, and nature will continue to cross our path, but we’ll miss seeing it with Alison and Jerry.