My favourite season for walks is here! I absolutely love walking outside in the winter sun, in the afternoons when most people are snoozing and it gets quiet and peaceful. There is something so rejuvenating about a purposeless sauntering as opposed to a destination-bound walk - you notice the world around you, you stop to inspect a curious plant, you slow down to observe the birds. Bliss!
On my last few walks, I started to notice little fig saplings growing out of other towering trees. From the folds of the copper pod tree trunk, I saw a fig tree growing with big waxy leaves.
In another eucalyptus tree, the fig which had started growing from a crevice in the tree’s branches had grown long aerial roots reaching down to the ground. In a couple of years, the fig will most likely take over the eucalyptus and “strangle” it.
I’d read about this characteristic of the Ficus benghalensis but this is the first time I am observing it happening around me. And it seems like the more I notice these figs growing on other trees, the more I see them all around; sometimes growing in the branches of other tree species and sometimes in the cracks of buildings.
I get so much joy and contentment from observing nature quietly going about its business as we live out our busy lives. For me, it’s a moment of slowing down and turning my thoughts outwards instead of being caught up in my own problems.
On the topic of walking as a balm to our heart and mind, this piece in Brain Pickings by Sylvia Boorstein and this one on Thoreau's thoughts about walking really resonated with me.
Do you enjoy taking long walks? Have you noticed something interesting? I'd love to hear from you - leave me a comment or send me an email.
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