Life With Clay

Clay loves the nature center near our house, so when we discovered one a couple towns over a few weeks back we figured it was worth a visit.

The first stop on the trail was a blind for bird watching.

My wife and I sat on chairs looking out through a wall-length picture window while Clay explored the room. Illustrations of birds ran above the glass. After a bit, the little guy joined us.

“What are your favorite birds?” my wife typed on the keyboard Clay uses to communicate.

“Swifts,” Clay typed back. “So silly.”

We watch chimney swifts swoop and dive above our backyard on summer evenings.

Further down the trail we spotted a pond.

After circling the water, we stopped at a bench to hear Clay’s thoughts.

“What do you think of this place?”

“Really cool place.”

“Why do you like it?”

“Really quiet.”

While we were sitting there, a mother and her two daughters stopped to say, “hi.”

We asked Clay if he wanted to say anything.

“We are so happy to meet you,” he typed.

“We are happy to meet you, too,” the mother said.

A little further down the trail, a red leaf fluttered in front of us and landed at Clay’s feet.

“So pretty,” he typed.

We circled back to a cleared area for kids that had some structures made of twigs.

And a tiny, man-made waterfall.

“I love the sound of running water,” my wife typed.

“Me, too,” Clay responded.

Clay seemed content, so we hung around the little waterfall for awhile.

“What is it that makes nature so appealing?” my wife asked as we sat on a bench in the clearing.

“We are at one with self,” Clay typed.

With that deep thought, we packed it up and headed home, happy to have added another peaceful spot to our repertoire.