We can learn a lot from our dogs. I’ve learned a lot from Ivy, our Brittany Spaniel. Fern, our Brittany puppy is a work in progress. She’s made a lot of progress since we brought her home seven weeks ago, but we have a lot progress to make.

A couple of mornings ago, Fern and I were out for a walk. I needed to move and so did she. Walking a dog is an exercise in curiosity, walking a puppy is a course in curiosity and patience.

Fern is learning and so am I. As we walked, Fern was discovering a new world, even though we had walked part of the same route a day earlier. Fern discovered objects I didn’t see – pine cones, sticks, and sadly, trash – paper and plastic.

Fern saw insects and birds – I could see them, but she noticed them and followed them with her head and would pull on the leash give chase to them.

I am curious, too. Last summer, I was wondering about birds and I began to open my eyes and look around. Day 26 – last day in June. Since then, I’ve discovered a lot and on our last trip up north, I discovered a pileated woodpecker. It’s a huge woodpecker and it is the woodpecker on which Woody the Woodpecker is modelled. The particular woodpecker might have gone unnoticed had a friend of mine not mentioned that seeing one was on his ‘bucket list.’

This past week, I have noticed another bird – red head, white wings, with a black tail. At first, I misidentified it, but I did some research. There are two different wood peckers a pileated woodpecker and red headed woodpecker.

Fern and I didn’t see either of the woodpeckers on our walk but we saw other birds. As we walked, I was reminded of my science hero’s, Rachel Carson, advice to be curious and full of wonder.

“A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantment of later years…the alienation from the sources of our strength.” Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder originally posted at Three C’s for Sunday

Children and dogs are full of curiosity and wonder, somehow, we lose it as we get older. I am trying to re-learn to be curious and full of wonder.

I watched Fern sniff and pick up objects along our walk, objects which would have gone unnoticed by me. Fern also loves shoes and anything else that she can find on the floor. This morning she discovered and empty plastic water bottle. Even, Ivy is still full of curiosity, though she’s learned to leave small black and white mammals alone.

Curiosity. I’ve got to get better at looking at the world through the eyes of a puppy. It is gonna be a great day, but first I’ve got to jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Being curious and Making the Day Count by looking at the world differently.

What has made you wonder lately?