I’ve heard wonderful things about the Highlights retreats for writers. I haven’t gone yet, but I hope to someday. This is the transformation I imagine happens😊😉

She breathes in.

Freshness.

Purity.

Rain.

The pitter patter is the only sound, no others around.

She can feel the pink of the budding flower as she turns away from her computer. She steps through the open glass door into another world.

It’s like a jungle, this forest. Shaded yet bright.

She wanders and wonders, briefly frightened.

There’s no one…are there beasts? Is this disconnection loneliness?

No—it’s beautiful, full of connection.

A bird hops on a branch and stares right at her, cocking its head, curious.

The bird is beautiful, precision in color and feathers. Not perfect, some colors bleed into others. But perfectly smooth and well-groomed, every feather in its place, exactly where it should be.

She looks at herself, disheveled, hair gone awry. She pulls her shirt and smooths her pants, then laughs at her ridiculous drive to fix herself in such a place.

The stream up ahead flows crystal clear. She peers at a tadpole, hopping, swimming, moving about, and breaths in again…

The end

As always, we ask, where’s the math?

The most obvious is the time we take for ourselves, to be with nature, and to get away—a small amount for most of us!

Of course, math is all about patterns too. Here’s an interesting article about how bird feather patterns can CHANGE!

Here’s some fun bird math: Bedtime Math

And of course, the time it takes for a tadpole to become a full grown frog, between 2.5 and 3 months.

Also, if you haven’t popped by to read the interview with Vivian Kirkfield about her upcoming counting picture book, click here, leave a comment, and get entered to win a SIGNED copy when the book releases in April!