Keep close to Nature’s heart…and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.
~John Muir
I have always been drawn to moss. I just find it to be an adorable mini world unto itself. On the way to Montana, we listened to the Serial podcast, a project in collaboration with This American Life, called “S Town.” Alex and I both highly recommend it to story listeners. At the end, the character in focus is reflecting back on his life, and says,
“…the best times of my life… I realize were the times I spent in the forest and field. I’ve walked in solitude, beside my own babbling creek, and wondered at the undulations, meanderings, and tiny attles that were occasionally swept into its midst. I have… spent hours entranced by the exquisiteness and delicacy of tiny mosses and molds, entire forests, within a few square inches.”
Here’s the podcast:
This one made us think of the Land Before Time (Anne) and Fraggle Rock (Alex)
Incidentally, I have also been reading “A Short History of Nearly Everything,” by Bill Bryson (also highly recommended). Here’s an excerpt from the book with one of my favorite sections, discussing mosses and the people who love them:
http://m.litread.in/read/91461/93398-94670?page=151