When I used to be little and lived in Moscow, I did not happen to have any friends: I was sick through most of my kindergarten years so I never really had time to befriend anyone of my age before school, and consequently, I had to find my own ways to have fun. That was when I discovered my first "natural wonder" - namely the small and fast-moving black ants that lived under a birch tree at the back ally of our home.
Now, this particular ant family was not anything fancy to look at, despite whatever can written in a book about them; but to a bored six-year-old they were a source of much amusement. And, on a less happy note, a source of just much - but different - amusement to others.
As I grew older, I did not readily develop any social connections or relations with other kids, even in the first grade class of my old school, because I was a nerd, in all essence: I liked animals and I liked books, and I did not like sports. My parents grew concerned, so they began to try to make me more sportive.
That was when I discovered that just few blocks to the south of our home lay a series of parks, alongside the Moscow-river. Though I was approaching eight by that time my parents did not feel confident to let me go and play there on my own earlier - "If only you had friends to come along" - so it was only by then that I discovered the wild chestnut trees that grew along the House of Art in one of the parks.
Now, a flowering tree in spring is a beautiful sight - that fact I knew for a while now: there was a crabapple tree growing just in front of our window, and as we lived on the fourth floor, it flowered pretty much right before our eyes. Very beautiful it was in its own way, but compared to the candle-shaped flowers of the chestnuts - very humble.
At that time, my parents' plan was to make me more social outgoing, for there was an amusement park - the Park of Culture - right across the street from the House of Art and its' park. Unfortunately, it didn't work-out, and may have even backfired a bit, for like in any amusement park the rides there cost money, and we didn't have any monies to spare for the rides at that time, so imagine how I felt, and why I opted to actually avoid the amusement park as time went by.
As time passed, I continued to explore the chestnut trees and their surroundings. That brought forth an important event in my development: I learned how to climb trees, especially the ones with low-growing branches... like the ones in my old school-yard... and incidentally, it is only now that I understand the mixed feelings of my mother when she saw me climbing around. But at that moment in time - I was happy: I had not only something to amuse me (climbing anything, from trees to hills to mountain sides is great fun), but I knew something that others didn't - climb trees and similar things that is.
Nowadays, though, I don't do that. Nowadays I am too mature for such stunts, at least in public. What's more, in this day and age, I have also managed to overpower my natural shyness of other people, and what's more, I finally developed what is called social skills, i.e. the knowledge of how to talk with people. But I still know how beautiful the trees in spring (and autumn) are, and during the weekend, at any opportunity, I go to the park located nearby, and walk there for an hour or so - just to re-discover the wonders of nature once more.