Thinking that a Walden can only occur in a certain type of country setting narrows greatly the appreciation of nature (and isn't that what Thoreau intended in his sojourn in the woods) for those who are urban dwellers. Walden occurs greatly in the city and the appreciation expands to include nature, human and otherwise.
In the summer I watched, on two separate occasions, in two different parts of the city, a Monarch butterfly leisurely waft down a street in Toronto. I stopped and gazed it in and out of sight.
Here in Victoria I know you can find a flower in bloom in the city on every single day of the year: one year I decided to prove this and I did. (The recent storm which dumped a lot of snow on us seventeen days ago - a few piles remain here and there! - would have been a deterrent to such a quest for a daily flower but some flowering bushes were flowering under the snow, calendula's continued; it was just knowing where to look - uh, dig.
Leaves are varied in texture, in weight, colour, design, arrangement, scent; on city trees as well as country ones.
Clouds perform anywhere, everywhere; the moon and sun shine without boundaries.
City birds listen to admiration and respond. As do cats. Cats may let you pet them.
The ground feels different underfoot on a roadway, on a sidewalk, on a curb. It feels different glistening with rain. It feels different in a garden but I have yet to decide if a country garden underfoot feels any different from one in the city.
Urban encounters between, amongst, people are as varied as rural ones; it depends on which face one wears, on what energy one puts out and is willing to take in.
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