You don’t bring me flowers;

You don’t sing me love songs; . . .

You don’t bring me flowers anymore. (Diamond/Bergman)

I love to get outside in Nature. I don’t know if there is anything I love better than a long hike in a beautiful place. Let me name a few: Crag Crest, O Be Joyful, Bear Creek, Hanging Lake, Angel’s Landing; the list is long.

On the day these photos were taken, it was Ramparts Overlook in Cedar Breaks. I love Nature because Nature loves me back. Nature is harsh, you will say. Nature is cruel. In fact, Nature can kill you. I will not deny it. But, think about it for a moment, Love – or rather what you did for love or what you would do for love- is sometimes harsh and Love is sometimes cruel, but Love is the solid bedrock of everything we hold dear as a society – and my love affair with Nature is a foundation that keeps me healthy physically as well as emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

Let me ask you, would you rather die outside in a beautiful place by the hand of Nature or in a heap of twisted metal in the city? What are the odds? I’ll stack the odds in favor of Nature. I’ll keep getting out there. Nature, rather than commerce and metro traffic, shall decide when it is my time to go.

Would you rather be in a sterile gray hospital room when they pull the plug and you breathe your last, or would you rather be struck by lightning on a green, rocky, stairway to heaven? I’ll choose lightning.

I was made from dust and to dust I shall return. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. I’ll trust Nature. Nature loves me back. Nature brings me flowers.