I was doing my best to stick with my normal routine this morning but had very little success due to connections not working. I did some testing – all appears to be well now but I also felt strongly I was meant to go for a haiku field trip.

I ate my breakfast and headed out to Liberty Loop Trail, 12 minutes from my house and a part of the Walkill River Preserve like the Wood Duck trail.

I was reminded how a change in scenery, even quite brief, changes so much.

I’m now sitting at the Winding Waters trail where an AT thru hiker just moseyed by, also. I have seen quite a few hikers this morning as the Appalachian trail intersects with rhe Liberty Loop.

Many are wearing shorts and I temporarily halt the Mom in me from saying “are you wearing repellant? There are ticks around here!”

Both of these trails are flat and easy loops – perfect for this sticky weather.

If you wonder how I got to be such a good fish identifier, google is magic, as is my bird call app which just informed me within 1 minute 9 different birds were singing alongside me. Later I will listen to each of the 9 and continue to practice listening more faithfully.

I knew a fish was jumping near me, shallow jumps – so I was primed to spot this grand leap. So I googled and found “walleye” which they also told me is also called a yellow pike. There is a lot of fishing here and they stock the river with these….seeing as I’ve only managed to catch one fish in all my years of living, all fish ought to feel safe around me.

The first year I wrote haiku was also the first year I saw a fish leap like the Yellow Pike did, today. I believe it is something about practicing close, quiet attention and presence.

I did not want to do much of anything today, but the devotion to writing haiku every day because you might be looking for it dragged me up and out of my doldrums to be on the Liberty Loop Trail and experience these moments of haiku with you.

Do you ever use apps to identify the nature around you?

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

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