{"id":1561,"date":"2014-08-09T23:55:20","date_gmt":"2014-08-10T03:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/?p=1561"},"modified":"2014-08-10T08:20:12","modified_gmt":"2014-08-10T12:20:12","slug":"the-road-less-traveled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/?p=1561","title":{"rendered":"The Road Less Traveled…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"snakey\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"skunky\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the things I really love, is to grab my camera, and take a little walk.\u00a0 Anywhere.\u00a0 I simply like to amble along\u2026. wellllll\u2026.. maybe it is more like brisk walking-type-amble (the only speed I know).<\/p>\n

No matter.\u00a0 I like to walk about and explore this place\u2026this world\u2026. with my eyes and my mind.\u00a0 I like to imagine and think about the things surrounding me.\u00a0\u00a0 Tonight, I decided to have a stroll around our back meadow.\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t been out that way in a while.<\/p>\n

As I started off, something stirred in the tall grasses.\u00a0 Something sizable.\u00a0 It startled me momentarily.\u00a0 Then I laughed out loud with myself.\u00a0 After living out in the country, now for one-half of my life, there isn\u2019t much that I would come across that could scare me from my walk\u2026.. I reflected.<\/p>\n

For instance.\u00a0 Just this morning after breakfast, I heard what I thought was a loud knock at the back door.\u00a0 (The door itself was open, but the glass storm door was engaged.)\u00a0 Ollie paced back and forth in front of the door but didn\u2019t bark.\u00a0 I thought I\u2019d better have\u00a0 a\u00a0 look.\u00a0 There on the back porch was a nice size snake\u2026. trying to work it\u2019s way under the glass door.\u00a0 I went out and picked the fella up and carried him where there were some bushes.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now\u2026 A couple of decades ago\u2026that would have freaked me out.\u00a0 Not anymore.<\/p>\n

So tonight… in my new found smugness \u2026 after the momentary disturbance in the prairie grasses \u2026. I carried on.\u00a0 As I got around the first bend, I stopped.\u00a0 Cold in my tracks. I froze solid.\u00a0 And then…\u00a0Quickly… \u00a0 I turned on my heals, and took off in the other direction.<\/p>\n

Yep\u2026 I had walked right up on a skunk.<\/p>\n

Of course\u2026 the photographer in me had to double back\u2026and get a few shots of the furry beast.<\/p>\n

But lesson learned.\u00a0 I had just congratulated myself on being a big brave country girl.\u00a0 Oh nothing out here could keep me from a nice evening walk in the country.<\/p>\n

I hadn\u2019t thought of all the possibilities.\u00a0 Clearly.<\/p>\n

And such it is with life.\u00a0 There are times when we think we know what course we are on\u2026 Or how we would react to any situation that might come before us.\u00a0 But the truth is\u2026.\u00a0 we can never know what the future will bring.\u00a0 We can never be quite sure of anything.\u00a0 No matter how prepared, and capable WE think we are.<\/p>\n

All of us are vulnerable.\u00a0 We \u2026. humans.\u00a0 We are all susceptible to that which can change.\u00a0\u00a0 And certainly…. none of us immune from the tale\u2026 of the skunk.<\/p>\n

Remember when life’s path is steep to keep your mind even.<\/strong><\/em>
\n– Horace<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.<\/strong><\/em>
\n– Ralph Waldo Emerson<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the things I really love, is to grab my camera, and take a little walk.\u00a0 Anywhere.\u00a0 I simply like to amble along\u2026. wellllll\u2026.. maybe it is more like brisk walking-type-amble (the only speed I know). No matter.\u00a0 I like to walk about and explore this place\u2026this world\u2026. with my eyes and my mind.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nowyouseeit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1561"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1567,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1561\/revisions\/1567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}