A walk in the woods

 

One day during our visit to Washington, we went for a walk at a new park out near Woodinville. It was a gray and damp day, as usual at that time of year, the type of weather that makes all this moss and ferns possible.

 

When I was a child, I was always highly amused at visitors from other states who would express amazement at how green it was in Bellevue. Now I get it. After 6 years in Texas and 3 1/2 in Arkansas, I get it. Here, everything goes brown in the summer and winter.

Not in Washington. There was moss on every immovable surface on the walk, except the paths, but only because they were brand new.

Believe it or not, there was a stump under that carpet of moss. You know that old saying about how you can tell which direction you are going in the woods by finding which side of the tree the moss is growing on? Not in this forest.

In other news, I am still in recovery mode from last week's nasty cold. Still coughing, especially when watching something funny on TV (like George Carlin), and still blowing my nose too often. But I made it to the gym this morning for the first time in almost two weeks and managed a tennis class yesterday. Whew.

We're 43rd, we're 43!

Arkansas is ranked 43rd among the 50 states in terms of the health of its residents. Washington State is 10th. I can totally see that. Here, in the natural state, the majority of people do not seem to go outdoors except to hunt things. OK, OK, that is a gross exaggeration, I am sure. But it is true that on all of the hikes Benjamin and I have gone on so far in this state, we have never encountered more than a handful of people, not even on the overnight hike. That is almost unheard of on many hikes in Washington. And I am sure the legacy of Southern cooking doesn't help either. Hush puppies, biscuits in gravy, sweet tea, fried catfish...I am making myself hungry. There is a surprising (to me anyway) abundance of locally grown food in Arkansas, but it seems that not enough people have access to it, or know about it. When Wal-Mart is the best grocery store in town, something is wrong with your food culture.

Anyway, what I am trying to say is that I don't exactly see why Arkansas can't move up the ladder a bit more: there are lots of places to get outdoors and exercise, and there are lots of opportunities for good, healthy food. Here in Little Rock there is a good medical school, so we should have enough doctors and nurses. More money for preventative measures (and people willing to be given those measures instead of seeing them as an imposition on their "freedom") would help. But, it takes some effort and will to change a culture, and one lone liberal voice blogging in the wilderness isn't going to cut it.

Addendum: Texas is 46th! Huh. Well, I guess we have a smaller population here in AR, so less infectious disease? Check out the survey for yourself at America's Health Rankings 2008.