Heaven knows what we would do without the forest so close to our home. No matter where we lived in our 63 years of being together, sharing all our experiences, enjoying life as an intimate tandem we have always sought opportunities to appreciate and immerse ourselves in natural surroundings. At times that would necessitate that we drive either short or long distances, exploring new places and new opportunities. But the goal was always there, to spend as much time as we could in nature.

From the time our children were infants to when they became young adults we shared with them our passion for our natural surroundings. Our fondest memories can be traced to those years. And we continue to indulge in that deep-seated need we recognize in ourselves  the subconscious urge to amble about in landscapes that have been as untouched by human presence as possible.

In the house where we spent twenty years raising our three children we had easy access to a vast area of unspoiled green space. Simply walking out our back door, through our backyard and into an area of pathways preserved by the construction company that had built the homes in that subdivision of the city led us as far as we felt inclined to walk, ski, snowshoe or hike through a large green space comprised of fields and forest.

In our current house where we have lived for almost three decades we no longer answer to an urge to drive any distances to achieve proximity to a green environment as we had so often with our children. We do on occasion venture elsewhere than the forested ravine adjacent our house, to take pleasure in nature walks but these are infrequent occasions.

When we first came to look at the house we now call ours and realized it was but a short walk from trails in a preserved forest, that fact alone excited our determination to take possession of the house and in so doing possessing the privilege of regularly accessing the ravine and the forest within it. Our two little dogs now enjoy the pleasure of roaming through the forest trails with us at daily leisure, just as our two little companions that had preceded them had done.

We have indeed been privileged.