On Saturday I took a walk down the Karl Sterner arts trail. As the group who I was walking with separated out, I found that I was in the back. But, I didn’t care because I decided to take advice from class and slow down, really look up and observe.

As I walked, I noticed how the sunlight hit the creek differently with each step I took. I noticed that leaves were beginning to fall and I simultaneously had to come to terms with the fact that my beloved summer was ending. I could go on for pages about the little things that I noticed but one that stuck out the most were these clumps of red bugs on the fence that lined the creek side of the trail.

From afar I thought that the red clumps were little flower buds. As I got closer I noticed that they were clumps of 50-100 red and black bugs. I am no biologist so I have no idea what they were but the idea that they were there stuck with me.

I thought, “were they eating something, are they mating or are they just hanging out on this fence for no particular reason?” Whatever reason they were there, I thought about how nature will always find its way into the man made world. Granted this fence was intended to be outside and interact with nature’s forces to some extent. However, the stark contrast between the rusted, metal fence to the red and small insects opened my mind to this bigger idea of how nature will always make an appearance even in a world that seems so controlled by man.