Ancient Remedies

 

Sixty degrees on the penultimate day of February. What a day for a long walk in the neighborhood! No hat, no gloves, spring jacket.

Strong gusts of southwesterly winds pushing forcefully against forward progress. The sun peeping out of clouds as cardinals sing out. Thin shelves of snow dripping into gutters then tumbling down sewers. Branches from trees littering soft, wet, marshy lawns. Neighbors out and about.

Energizing signs of spring amid meteorological winter.

Just two weeks ago, it was a different scene.

The thermometer read 10 degrees without factoring in the wind chill. What a day for a short walk in the neighborhood! Two pairs of pants, a heavy fleece under a wool coat, hat, gloves and a wool scarf. (Norwegian adage: There is no bad weather, just bad clothes.)

The sun beaming down brightly from a cloudless sky. Lawns piled with snow under hard icy coverings. Blacktop roads with patches of ice. Biting wind against cheekbones. Not a person in sight.

And yet, an exhilarating experience.

After all, to move in nature is to partake of her pharmacopeia. Antidepressants, anti-anxiety agents, anti-hypertensives, antidotes, amelioratives. Ancient remedies for modern people.