Looking North, over the Missouri River

When I think about where I am in the country, I can't help but get lonesome. I see myself from space, a little dot in the middle of a cornfield. Growing up on a coast gives you an internal compass that seems to ground you, at least it does for me. Being out here without the edge of an ocean lapping at my soul makes me feel lost. 

But enough tears. Here's a picture I took this week near Omaha, in a nice forest where birds chirp and wind blows. I took this shot on a break during my Nebraska Master Naturalist class -- something I'm doing to get to know the local natural environment. 

The Missouri, known to folks here as the Muddy River, is far from clean...but it provided two pioneer type folks a good passage-way to explore.  More than 200 years ago, Lewis and Clark paddled and trampled all through these parts, along their famous journey. I asked a classmate if the river was clean and she said, "Well, if you don't mind the dead pigs that float by."  Hmmmm.