Some days getting outside is less about a walk on the beach and more about walking among buildings, on paved paths, up and down stairs, places where concrete, steel, and glass outnumbers the trees.

After last night’s rain, the clouds put on a show. They gathered and hovered, swooped and curved, showing off against the brilliant blue sky lighted with October’s still-warm sun.

Feeling a bit stuck about what to write today, I turned to the Write Out mentor text list. I found Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s For This I walk Outside and borrowed the line Outside everything is teacher: to get started.

I can never get enough of the spectacular architecture and whimsical Stuart art collection at UCSD. The Geisel library and Fallen Star caught my eye–especially with the clouds nestled up against them.

Outside everything is teacher:

clouds bubbling

swaths of cotton

nestled low

cuddling with straight lines

and sharp angles

rising in this human-made

environment

I count snake path scales

and scale hundreds of stairs

hiking skyscrapers

as I watch clouds race

each other across the sky

today the show is outside

between the raindrops

and slant of sun

the lessons keep falling

like raindrops

like wafting fog

like screaming Santa Ana winds

like abundant sunshine

and cool ocean breezes

I walk through the school of life

taking in all that is outside

#writeout #writewherewestand #mentortext #learning

What are you learning with the outdoors as your teacher? Where are the lessons falling?