This has been so much fun! Thank you, Lance, for sharing your words and your blog community here, and thanks, everyone, for visiting Halfway to Normal and sharing some of what you love with the rest of us. Welcome! I hope many of you will return frequently, and even subscribe, like Lori. :)

My own deep connections with nature are rooted in childhood experiences. Several times a year, in every season, my family would drive up to my grandparents' cottage in the deep woods of northern Michigan. Whether we were cross country skiing in the winter, wading in the stream in summer, or following deer trails in the fall, the woods were a peaceful sanctuary. I also love the open splendor of Lake Michigan and its sunsets, but there's something about smaller, inland lakes that I love too, most likely because in my home state they are almost always surrounded by trees.

The other childhood memories that I will always carry with me come from the several weeks we spent each summer camping. I especially love dark nights around the campfire, then walking under the hushed starry sky to the bath house, before climbing into sleeping bags in the tent. Those night sounds punctuating the silence before sleep soothe like nothing else.