Aven Nelson (1859–1952) was a botanist at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. His second wife, Ruth Elizabeth Ashton (1896–1987), much his junior, was his partner in the field and companion in the last twenty years of his life. Separately and in each other's company, these naturalists brought work, play, learning, and companionship together fairly seamlessly in their lives. This is an enviable accomplishment in a world where most of us compartmentalize all things — work separate from play, indoors from outdoors, emotional experience from professional effort — and few people ask seriously how any of these aspects of a life in progress might inform one another over time. But, like many different kinds of professionals, neither of the Nelsons wrote about the specific conditions of their work — in their case, what it was like to work outdoors, what the plants they collected made them think about, or what it was like to work together, though it is clear enough they enjoyed themselves, and both of them sustained long productive lives in close communication with colleagues and the natural world.