A Sunday Walk

Yesterday we did not have to drive to MD (HOORAY!) so we went for a walk. Justin sent me this picture last week, so we were all excited to head down to his workplace to hunt for shed deer antlers.

It was a nice sunny day, with temperatures in the 40s and a brisk wind. There were five of us, so we walked through fields, over hills and dales, and through woods in a line but with 10 feet or so between us, keeping our eyes peeled for the extremely difficult-to-spot sheds. 

We didn't come home with a big haul, but we did find a few. It took us over three and a half hours to find these few and to be honest, I got tired of looking for antlers and started to look for other things.

There were lots of snowdrops in the woods, 

and since Justin works in Princeton, there are several large Princeton-appropriate buildings.

This sign is also appropriate and makes things pretty clear. 

There is a large pond with loads of honking geese, getting ready to pair off. In my efforts to avoid disturbing the geese too much, I took the long way around the pond and came upon a three-part stone bench. It was very cold and uncomfortable, but each section had an interesting quote engraved on it. This one says "Those who have moved the world have usually followed the will o' the wisp of their own intellectual and spiritual curiosity." (Abraham Flexner, one of the founders of the Institute for Advanced Study)

"All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike and yet it is the most precious thing we have." (Albert Einstein)

"True scholars often work in loneliness, compelled to find reward in the awareness that they have made valuable, even beautiful, contributions to the cumulative structure of human knowledge, whether anyone knows it at the time or not." (George Kennan, international affairs faculty member at IAS) It is also fitting that he was best known as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War. 

Looking for shed antlers was a nice reason to get outdoors, enjoy the warming weather and sunshine, and enjoy a respite from the news. George Kennan was also one of a group of foreign policy elders known as "The Wise Men", who helped to craft institutions and initiatives such as NATO, the World Bank, and the Marshall Plan. I fervently wish and hope that wise men will prevail in Russia and Ukraine.