Listening Carefully

John Muir famously said, "The mountains are calling and I must go." Gandhi offered this advice: "There is more to life than increasing its speed." I'm taking both to heart, and beginning a 70-mile hike through Oregon wilderness on the Pacific Crest Trail. Hopefully my mind will slow to the speed of my feet. Call me cheesy or overly saccharine, but I do believe immersion in the natural world is good for the soul. It's also good for the creative spirit. New novel is in the works, in which Nature is a character. I'll have to listen carefully . . .