SUNDAY’S UNUSUALLY WARM weather drew me back to Faribault’s River Bend Nature Center, this time for a walk that centered more on prairie than woods.
My husband, Randy, poses by one of River Bend’s biggest cottonwoods next to a parking lot nearest the center’s entrance.
With camera once again in hand, I scanned for photo ops, many pointed out by my hiking companion husband. I appreciate that he understands and supports my interest in photography.
As we hiked, I noticed a theme connecting nearly everything that drew my interest. I was focusing on texture—in dried prairie grass,
The deeply textured bark of a cedar tree.
bark,
new leaves,
a cone of seeds,
fungi,
a milkweed pod,
moss,
pussy willow,
the remnants of last season’s cattails…
Because the landscape remains so stark yet in early April in Minnesota, the eye catches such details. Or at least my eyes.
Yet several things distracted me from texture: the red dot of a bug and the red dash of a cardinal,
Randy and I hung out on the pond dock for awhile listening to the frogs and watching the geese.
the overwhelming roar of frogs,
the mating antics and flight of geese and then, the most unexpected—the sight of a sixty-something man walking toward us with a gun holstered and strapped to his belt.
We met the gun-carrying man not far from a bird observation deck marked by this sign.
The surprise showing of that weapon unsettled me. I couldn’t shake the feeling that this just was not right for a person to be walking in a nature center on a Sunday afternoon with a handgun at his waist for all—including children—to see. Back home I checked the nature center website. Under Visitor Rules and Regulations, I found this:
Therefore, it shall be unlawful, except upon permission of the Executive Director or his/her agent, for any person to:
15. Possess or use any firearms, air guns, paintball guns, archery equipment, or other weapons within the nature center; or discharge any missile or other projectile from such a weapon into the nature center from beyond nature center boundaries without prior approval by River Bend’s board of directors (example: prescribed deer management hunts);
In my opinion, common sense should tell anyone not to carry a weapon into a nature center.
Thoughts?
© Copyright 2017 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
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