If you’ve been following “Old Fat Man Adventures” (see “Others’ Perspectives in the sidebar), you might have read about Barney and his friend Bob hiking in the Lost Maples State Park (or LMSP) in Texas. And then you might have picked up on Bob’s coinage of the term Meanderthal. In Barney’s words, “OF [Old Friend] Bob came up with a great description for us. Since we meander so well, we must be MEANDERTHALLS.” I love it!

Even if you’re a hard-charger, it pays to take a day off and simply take it easy. To meander through the world and see what’s to be seen, in other words, like this cyclist who was out to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather here in far northern New York:

 

 

I like pushing myself on hikes and when biking—sometimes. Others, it’s just great to be outside away from the strains of everyday life. If I’d been in a hurry, I’d never have seen this fat-cheeked chipmunk eyeing me from a perch in a pine tree:

 

 

She had reason to be hurrying. Winter’s on the way, and the more trips she takes to her burrow with a load of food, the more likely it is she can weather hard times ahead. But once the colder weather clamps down, she’ll be asleep in her subterranean home, though once in a while she’ll wake up and maybe be a Meanderthal in her tunnel network.

When I notice little scenes like the chipmunk in the tree, I’m glad I’ve slowed down to look around me. As Barney’s friend Bob says, “when one (particularly an old geezer) is enthralled with the natural beauty of a place, he is ‘meander-thralled.’” I couldn’t agree more, Bob.