I wonder how many of us picked up this habit from COVID? It definitely got me to appreciate my local flora way better, and the fact that I get weird looks for bending down to take pictures of tiny little insect and plant life is, well, let me be honest, I kind of enjoy being the neighborhood eccentric.
During COVID I'd take a lot of walks, and in a similar way, it helped to have some kind of basically useless goal/destination in mind. For me it was checking out how construction in a nearby park was going, including what was happening in a temporary holding pond. I would send "pond updates" to my family in other states, which they found amusing. I got really interesting in all the different birds I was seeing and how the plants were growing. Now that I'm downtown, in a more "walkable" place, I don't really have the same variety of interesting natural things to see. Maybe I can think of something similar.
Aw, that's a really lovely goal! A growing pond sounds like an excellent walking target - during lockdown I headed to my local reservoir quite a few times and just wandered around the path by its edge.
I also enjoy watching construction - I feel like in a different country and different life, I would have been an 'Umarell' (an elderly Italian man who stands watching construction sites)
