Living Life Out Loud
Living Life Out Loud
Dane and Téte were ahead of Finn, Ruben, and me when I stopped and shouted, “Morel!” Dane quickly turned around as I bent down, kicked my foot in the leaves, and said, “Oh, just a corncob.”
We were hiking the Bailout Trail in the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, finding and naming spring flowers, when I mistook that corncob for a gourmet mushroom. Spring excitement does that.
Bloodroot, anemone, Dutchman’s breeches, hepatica, and spring beauties are some of Wisconsin’s first flowers to pop up, and we had called them all out the week before with the same enthusiasm. Near the wetlands, we found skunk cabbage and marsh marigolds, along with mayapples that seemed to be growing everywhere.
Dane is always the first to point out the tiny violets growing in the lawn. I love seeing them, but I’m more excited about finding flowers on the trails. I still talk about the lone yellow lady’s slipper I discovered alongside the Billings Trail over seven years ago, or the single shooting star flower Cynthia and I saw near the trail going around Sidie Hollow. Only two years ago, on the Bailout Trail, Dane accurately yelled “Morel,” and it was a doozy! It’s true what they say: Once you see one morel, if you look closely, you’ll find more!
When I was a child, Mom drilled into my head never to say, “I’m bored.” If I did, she’d point to the door, and out I’d go. After all, no one can get bored in nature.
When we returned to the Reserve a week later, the bellworts were plentiful and the trilliums were budding. Although not fully grown, the jack-in-the-pulpits were easy to see, while on the roadside I noticed phlox.
Yesterday, on our way home from Milwaukee, we were rounding Fox Corner, a hairpin bend on Elk Run Road where a litter of fox kits once lived, when I shouted, “Fiddleheads!” It’s hard to be away from home in spring, when every day brings discoveries that start with hearing the peepers, seeing the robins, and watching the grass turn green.
It’s the time of the year we soak up the freshness of new growth and let it seep into our skin. The doors are wide open, no screens necessary. In the evening, we can hear peepers from down the street, while the owls are busy calling out to each other. We’ve already had a few visits from coyotes—or possibly the same one a few times—looking for a free lunch.
To me, this is what it means to live life out loud!
When the gnats and mosquitoes return, we’ll look the other way.