1 April - First and last

The goal:
To pick up a stick a day for 365 days - from 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014.

The reason:
I love nature. I have embraced nature as I collected leaves, flowers, seeds, grasses, rocks, stones, shells, dead bugs, and anything weird and wonderful that nature was willing to share with me. I have however never really paid any attention to normal old sticks or collected them or felt any need to collect them, until today. 

So this is what happened on my sunset walk 3 nights ago. I came around a bend in the road and as the setting sun flickered its rays accross the road, it fell on a patch of sticks. I  saw a particular stick turn into a golden wand of specialness for a few minutes, before the sun shifted away. ... and then it struck me... the answer is to now focus on the millions of dry twigs and sticks with their unassuming beautiful shapes, hidden messages and magical stories to tell.

I remember our family dog, - (a pitch black long haired, Benji-like pavement special, which we lovingly adopted from our local SPCA). He used to love sticks so much! He would daily choose his own stick with which he wanted to play. He would wag-tail-bark-ask to play as he lay the stick at our bare feet.
Once we threw the stick, he would race to get it and as he proudly jogged back towards us he would joyfully flick the stick through the air before dropping it back at our feet for us to throw it again.

This blog is to say to our little black dog-friend - "Thank you for all your unconditional love. It took me many many lifetimes to realise that what I need now is to share the wonder of sticks with you".

The invite:
To my friends who may read this from time to time: I hope you will enjoy my stick journey, as much as I look forward to enjoying and sharing it with you.