“The whole idea of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot in one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G.K. Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles

Think about this. Really think.

As you read this, I am experiencing Ireland. It is a trip I have long dreamed of taking. Ireland is an ancestral land for me – my great-grandfather came from Ireland to America as a young teenager during the Great Potato Famine of the 1840s. Little is known about his life in Ireland – or his early life in America prior to his marriage to my great-grandmother in late mid-life.

So, that is where I am. You will  read about my experiences in future blogs. But I also intend to focus my Fridiay blogs during the months of May on Oklahoma places. I tend to overlook the beauty right where I am, and am always eager to see a new place. So this quote spoke to me.

When I return from Ireland, I want to look at this land where I live with the eyes of a traveler, as if everything is new, never seen before. I hope to use my traveler’s observation skills, and delight as if for the first time in places and things that I have seen many, many times.

There may be many delights to be seen! I am always amazed that when I speak about places in Oklahoma many people have never been there. They have never walked their neighborhoods. They have never spent an afternoon in a park. They have never walked along the Arkansas River or taken a pathway in Oxley Nature preserve or in our Wilderness Area, Turkey Mountain.

I challenge you to do that with me in the coming months. Find your traveler’s eyes, and visit your life and the natural world around you as if for the first time. Be amazed!