cleaning out some old files...

... and I came across this something below which I've saved for years on my old hard drive. I don't know where it came from, but the format looks like an old AOL bulletin board. Somehow it resonates with a questionnaire I filled out this morning, one question of which was 'Why do you keep a web log?' And in my case, why do I "garden blog"...

I hate writing essays so I kept my answer short:
Communication. When I was a child I used to shine my flashlight into the night sky. Just another flickering light in the big ol' universe.
So today I'm posting this old bit of flickering light, don't know who wrote it. If you do, let me know.

Subj: the love of Nature
Date: 97-05-10
From: IMNVIZIBL

I am invisible. I am the force inside you, compelling you to the window of your stuffy office to stare out on the world. I am the longing to be out there with the sparrows, pigeons, and squirrels in the park. I am why you carry dry cereal in your pocket in case you have lunch in that park.

I am the voice of your childhood. I am calling you to remember. I am why you have fond memories of watching your now aged father working the fields and tending the garden with abandon. I am the reason the same man remembers with fondness, you watching him from the tall grass rescuing the toads and snakes that he uncovered. I am the hawk that soared overhead as this all took place.

I am a free spirit. I am why your house is unkempt at times as you are drawn to your patio, your deck, your lawn chair, your garden. I am borne on the fresh air and I compel you to observe your surroundings. I am what makes you look closer when you catch a glint of light on a branch to see a perfect tiny orb web. I am what makes you look down and freeze as you are walking, only to see a tiny ant carrying a huge grasshopper to his colony. I am that colony working together to get the grasshopper down the too small entrance hole. I am why you are still kneeling there 15 minutes later. I am why kids love to be naked outdoors.

I am the voice of fantasy. I can turn your children into prancing Arabian horses, or explorers of new lands. I am why they play outside in their school clothes, because I cannot wait. I am every bug, snail, frog, lizard, snake they have brought you. I am why they wonder if there could be dinosaurs in your woods, or alligators in your Midwest pond. I am always there for them, providing new ideas every day.

I am curiosity. I am why children need to see into the birds nest and why they are not satisfied to watch from the ground. I am why children love crickets and earthworms. I am why they carry small sticks to poke at the ground. I am why children do what they are told not to. I am why you buy field guides. I am compulsive and this is why you buy several on the same subject. I am why you overcome your squeamishness and picked up a wandering crayfish. I am why you got pinched.

I am a lover of art. I am why you notice that the birds have so many colors and songs. I am why you have one of everything in some gardens and orderly mass plantings in others. I am why you have shade gardens and sunny gardens. I am why you plant for hummingbirds and butterflies to add their own brushstrokes to your unfinished work. I am why you notice from the hilltops that the fields look like a patchwork quilt your Grandma made. I am why you think a rattlesnake or copperhead is beautiful.

I am contentment. I am why you can lay awake at night and listen to the chorus of frogs and crickets. I am why you lay on your back on a blanket and watch the clouds. I am the animal shapes that you find in the clouds. I am the smell of freshly cut grass or the sweet smell you smell each spring on your walking path and have not yet identified. I am why you garden whether on an acreage, large lot in town, or in pots on your balcony. I am why you hum when you water the plants and feed the birds and squirrels.

I am the love of Nature.