Sometimes a book says what you can’t find words for.
Recently I read a review somewhere that led me to BRAIDING SWEETGRASS by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The author merges two opposite backgrounds: she is a professor of ecological botany with a phd and full scientific study, and she is a member of a First Nations tribe, __________, and grew up exposed to the traditional view of nature as host, and the ways to honor that host. Merging these two often opposed approaches to nature has made her a complex observer and a fascinating storyteller.
Every page of this book reminded me of moments with my oldest friend who loved to explore the grasses in vacant lots, looking for the beetles and moths and stuff of our childhood. We both were usually assigned to play outfielder in school baseball games, and we spent our lonely time out there exploring the scissor weed and the dock and sometimes the track of a garter snake. We missed any balls that came our way.