Nature Walk

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm not a big fan of outdoorsy, nature stuff. I run outside. I enjoy a spring picnic and a trip to the pumpkin patch in the fall. I like the pool and the beach, but I'll never go camping. I just won't. Not gonna happen. After Caroline's Memorial Day camping trip with her friend, she's suggested on a few occasions that we go camping sometime. Not one to purposefully crush the soul of my child, I've continually laughed off her suggestion and, instead, said, "weeeeellllll, maybe. Someday. Maybe. I don't know."

Translation: "not on your life, kid."

Believe me, I'm not a princess. Really. I'm not. I change car batteries and fix toilets, for crying out loud. I just do not have a great enough love for the outdoors to spend an entire night sleeping in a tent. I'll sleep on the floor inside a house. A snake-proof house, that is.

The truth is that I am TERRIFIED of snakes. Terrified. I have horrible reoccurring dreams about snakes scattered in front of my front door, making it impossible for me to get in the house. I cannot go into a reptile house at the zoo; I flinch when I see pictures of them in a book. If there is any way that a creepy, slithery, snake could find its way into a tent I'm sleeping in, I don't want anything to do with it. This is totally non-negotiable.

Unfortunately this fear is rather consuming. It eliminates many potentially fun family activities. Hiking? No. Camping? No (even if I wasn't petrified of snakes, it would still be a no). Trail running? Um, no. Visiting the Amazon river/rain forest? Nope. Going in the grass at my parent's house in Florida? Uh, that's a negative, as well.

I don't mean to be such a killjoy, but snakes? No, thanks.

So, when you avoid nature, for whatever reason, nature walks aren't a big part of your life. However, yesterday, I took an impromptu nature walk-ette. I grabbed my camera, took the long way to pick Caroline up from school and snapped some pictures of the pretty flowers in our neighborhood.

What, you don't take pictures of your neighbor's flowers? That's probably because you have flowers of your own in your yard. We don't have many flowers; we have a few, plus lots of green stuff and weeds, but nothing like what our neighbors have.

I LOVE hydrangeas.

I triple puffy heart love bright pink hydrangeas.

After I typed this, I had a talk with my neighbor who just informed me that there has been an infestation of water snakes in people's basements here in our subdivision. Um, pardon me while I have a mental breakdown. Snakes outside are one thing, but a snake in the house calls for an entirely different caliber of freak out.

Now, it you'll please excuse me while I simultaneously freak out, binge on ice cream and check to make sure our doors and windows (hey, you never know) are sealed tight.