Greener Grass

It's a beautiful day in Southwest Missouri. I have a hankering (yes, hankering) to go to Wildcat Park. For my few international readers, and for those of you who live here that aren't aware, we have a wonderful treasure there just south of Joplin.Wildcat Park is beautiful, peaceful, clean, and best of all, free. It encompasses Wildcat Glades, which is home to the largest remaining chert glade in the world. I unfortunately had to Google "chert glade" myself, and no, I will not do the work for you by explaining what I found. That's the teacher in me. But, suffice it to say, it's pretty cool and helps explain why, around here, we sometimes have to pay kids to pick up rocks on our land and why they often find arrowheads while doing so.

Shoal Creek, below Grand Falls, the only continuously running waterfall in Missouri

 I went to Wildcat Park a few weeks ago, and it was my first time there since the Audubon Center had opened. I could see the building in the distance, but surrounding it was what looked like untamed wilderness. I thought and said aloud, "Why wouldn't they keep the grounds around the building maintained?" I then, of course, felt pretty stupid when the obvious answer was explained to me, which is that the grounds aren't neglected; they are part of the conservation efforts to preserve the land in its natural state. Living in a country where everything is so commercialized, shiny, and plastic, it was refreshing to see a place like this that was so untouched yet still so accessible to the public.

On the banks of Shoal Creek

 While at Wildcat, we saw families swimming, couples walking, people biking, and a photographer shooting family portraits. It was refreshing to see so many people in one place essentially enjoying the same thing and coexisting peacefully. Everyone was on their own, but still together, in a way. So today, instead of grumbling that I can't be somewhere else like London or Paris, I think I'm going to go enjoy what I've got right here.

Bridge over untroubled water