NONFICTION         
"the wild splendor of untamed nature"
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Reflection
by  Barbara Applegate

​A few years ago, I was at a retreat center on the eastern edge of the continent (in Massachusetts) for a month. It was so very beautiful; the ocean to the east and an inlet, a bay, to the west. I spent a lot of time outdoors but it took me several days to situate myself because as a Californian, I found it disorienting to see the sun rising over the ocean! But the magnificence of the area was a gift that sank into my soul. Each day I would go out walking and be uplifted by the natural glory; not only the water, the rocks and cliffs, but the flowers, the trees, the vines, the wild splendor of untamed nature. There were few houses in the area; mostly there was space and water, untamed, wild; the beauty and bounty of Mother Nature.
 
I had a room to myself with a large window that overlooked the grassy grounds and the bay. I could watch the waves roll in over the rocky beach and then flow out. One morning as I was washing up before going downstairs to the dining room, I looked in the mirror and saw my neck—it was as if I had never seen my neck in the last 30 years! As if here, in this moment, in this place of beauty, the light was falling just right for me to notice the lines, the sags, the wrinkles. I was shocked. I have a turkey neck! I was truly taken aback. How could it sneak up on me like this? Especially in the middle of all the beauty that surrounded me?
 
Well, I decided, life was going to go on even if I did have a turkey neck. I finished getting ready, ate breakfast and, on my first walk of the day, went out into the lovely grounds and surrounding beauty. I walked along the drive, noticing with delight the beautiful bright red rosehips. I went around a corner and there were three wild turkeys strolling along together at the edge of the road! I was startled but not afraid. I hung back a little, observing them; their long legs, dark feathers, round bodies, long necks, and their heads with all that wrinkly flesh hanging down along their necks. They didn't seem to mind those wrinkly necks! They were very unconcerned with their necks! They plodded along, heads bobbing, with occasional soft, clucking sounds, and stayed close together. They rounded the corner and then calmly walked off into the woods. Turkey necks! I had seen the real thing! Perhaps not so bad after all! At least for the turkeys.
 
As I continued my walk in beauty, I began to see the pine needles on the ground that had turned brown, the leaves that were floating down from the trees, the grasses and mosses that were turning yellow—even the roses turning to rosehips; all were undergoing the same process as the skin of my neck . . ., as well as the rest of my body. We were all on a journey together; this beauty and I, including the turkeys. I was not above nor separate from the cycle of life and death but a part of it.
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​Barbara Applegate received a BA at UC Berkeley, with a major in Spanish, and an MS in Education at CSU, East Bay. As an administrator of Early Childhood Education, she developed a program to teach parents in non-English speaking families the value of helping their children retain the home language while learning English. She is the mother of 3 daughters, a traveler and a contemplative. She loves taking writing classes--not only because she learns from them, but because they give her structure for writing.
Other works in this issue:
Nonfiction:
​Puppy Love
Poetry:  
Waterplay - An Abcedarian Poem


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Vistas & Byways Review is the semiannual journal of fiction, nonfiction and poetry by members of Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at San Francisco State University​.​
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​Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at San Francisco State University (OLLI at SF State) provides communal and material support to theVistas & Byways  ​volunteer staff.