Country Diary memories

Photo: frost on grass

Today again as I walked in the park, the slow holiday pace made it possible to notice many small natural things.

Stopping to watch a squirrel eat and a blue heron fly up, then to look at frost crystals standing upright in snowy grass, I remembered a column I used to read in the then Manchester Guardian, the white tissue paper air mail edition. My treasured Sunday reading.

Today's leisurely observation of nature reminded me of a column that I liked back then, about birds and plants, weather and seasons. I envied the columnist of "A Country Diary," imagined him looking out an upstairs window into a peaceful garden, describing what he saw.

I think I've been following unconsciously in the footsteps of that columnist. I've discovered that The Guardian still has the same column. It's good to know someone still gets space in a major newspaper to write about daily details of nature.