A Walk with Dylan (Frasers Hill)

Being the person that I am, I love escaping back to nature to recharge. 

In Frasers Hill this week, I revisited the many paths that I’ve trekked  with my girls Nel and Jo. We’ve been on these nature walks ever since my children were born. On every walk I’d point out different things to them, such as the vibrant colours of nature, insects, spiders, slugs, birds, the sounds of the wind, sounds of the wild. Then there came a time, where I’d take them on walks, and their little sharp eyes and heart in tuned with nature began to spot the wonders of God's creation and soon they were pointing out to me things in nature with great excitement.

This trip, though initially I’d planned to go alone just with my two girls, somehow, joyfully we were accompanied by Jessy’s family, a family of 8. Still every morning I’d escape for my alone time, just me and my camera.

One of those mornings  towards the end of our long stay, I awoke early as usual and was about to escape on my "alone walk", when I saw a pair of eyes looking at me. It was Dylan who was up early. Deciding a child's company would be delightful, I asked “Wanna walk with me?”

He nodded and so we went.  I wanted to show him  stuff I’ve showed my girls so many times. It was a very very cold morning, and several times I told Dylan to just stop, listen to the powerful wind howling between the trees and embrace the cold with deep breaths. We watched and listened amazed! He definitely was by the look on his face.  :)

Then barely 20 minutes into the walk he asked “Can we turn back? I don’t think my legs can take this anymore after all the trekking we did yesterday.”  (we trekked 3.6km through very dense forest just the day before.)

“Well Dylan, you could walk back another 20 minutes, or you could complete the trail. We’re nearly at the end,” I lied.  *grin*

 And then I added, “Besides, Dylan, little Jo who’s younger than you, has made it round this loop many times, surely you’re stronger than her?”

This kicked up his little budding manly ego and he proceeded with a sudden surge of strength. :)

We stopped as I pointed out to him spiders, birds and insects. I even placed a huge beetle on Dylan’s shoulders to his utmost horror, but because he didn’t dare to disobey me, he quietly obliged a photo, his face scrunched up in fear. Haha…

The beetle I placed on Dylan's shoulder

Then Dylan spotted a chipmunk who was as curious about us, coz it came right out on the branch and looked from Dylan to me, and back to Dyl.  This continued for a good 5 minutes at least. 

We  then continued walking and on his own Dylan started to notice lots of chipmunks and squirrels.

“Why is it that all I can spot are squirrels and nothing else?” asked Dylan.

“Well…coz that’s what you’re looking for and if you want to spot insects you need to look carefully into the bushes and leaves. I’m looking for birds, so I’m not really noticing the thousands of insects that live here. Tell you what, why don’t you look for insects, and I’ll pay you 50 cents for every unique one you spot, ” I offered.

What ensued was a discussion about the differences between insects and spiders. And so we talked. Well..Dylan really wanted to earn money to buy his siblings and my girls ice cream, so he worked hard. His eyes magically opened and he began to notice a host of things, from the uniqueness of flowers to spiders to insects. What joy :).

 In the end, he earned RM5 from me, which he was very pleased with, and I really enjoyed my little company that morning walk, which lasted a good 2 and half hours!   *wink*

At the end of it all, this gentleman Dylan came up to me and said “Thanks for inviting me Aunty Martha. I really enjoyed it. Thank You.”

Well Dylan, thank you for walking with me, for being my little helper at spotting things. I enjoyed your company very much indeed. :)

Dylan running to check out birds

 

 We looked up at the misty sky and trees, listened to the wooshy washy sounds of the strong winds

 At one point we saw a jogger going bare foot and decided to give it a try. I liked it, Dyl didn't.

Spotted this spider and showed it to Dylan who went "Wow!!"

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Now then, here are the items which Dylan spotted to earn his 5RM. Initially he was just suppose to spot insects. But he managed to sweet talk me into accepting flowers too! haha..:)

 This was the icing, the final thing he spotted just before we arrived at the end. :)

My other post on Frasers Hill found here.

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2012

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