Spirit of the Northwoods

A Spark

2011-01-27T10:45:00.003-06:00

Some say Thoreau lost some of his deeply spiritual interest in Nature later in life when he started to focus more on the scientific approach (see his book Wild Fruits or here). I used to wonder how this could have possibly happened. He was, after all, only forty-four when he died; forty-four. For me, forty-four is right around the corner and it strikes me as ironic that I too had lost that spark, or pieces of it, around the same age, over the past year (hence my lack of entries). And it made me sad I had lost it. I didn't know the root cause then and still don't to this day. It surely wasn't to study the science of Nature. Work, family, state of the world? Who knows? Don't get me wrong, I had my 'good' days when a beautiful sunset would stop me in my tracks or a thunder storm would trigger the awe I once had as a child but for the most part, I became disconnected with Nature.

But now I feel all is not lost.

I recently went on a snowshoe trek and a little of Nature's healing powers had once again made its way into my soul. Not in the big blanket, head-to-toe kind of way. But in a small but still significant way. And it made me happy. It made me happy to realize that I could get it back and all is not lost.

It's good to be back - even a little bit.

Enough Already

2009-10-26T11:47:00.008-05:00

I am normally a very mild mannered individual. It takes a lot to get me angry. But it happened this past Saturday while on my walk.

During my country walks, I usually see quite a bit of trash along the sides of the road, mostly beer cans (Busch Light is the obvious beer of choice around here) and although it is hard for me to live with, I've come to accept that some people are just pigs with no regard for the environment. But this Saturday I came upon something that left me dumbfounded - I found this abandoned in the ditch:

A grill. A full-sized gas grill. Here is another perspective - see the "peel-out marks" on the side of the road? (click image to enlarge) They must have been in a hurry - or drunk - or both.

I'm not sure how many of you remember the Native American in the 1970's commercial who shed a tear for all of the pollution surrounding him but I almost felt that disgusted.

Can people do this without remorse or guilt because they believe there is a garbage fairy that will magically come through and clean up after them? I can assure them that there is not and somebody will need to clean this up because of their laziness and irresponsibility.

Here is another example I came across this summer while wading one of my favorite streams. This beautiful sandbar was made ugly by a few individuals with no reverence for Nature or their fellow human being. Of course this garbage will be swept downstream when the Spring floods arrive next year, giving everyone downstream the opportunity to clean-up after them. Since this incident, I now pack a garbage bag with me for such wonderful encounters. Unfortunately, the grill wouldn't fit.

Again, click the pictures to get a better idea of the amount of trash they left behind.

I'm sure the person(s) who left the grill in the ditch and the trash on the sandbar wouldn't care if everyone started leaving their garbage and waste wherever they wanted. That is, of course, as long as it wasn't in their backyard.

I hate to conclude on such a sour note so I'll leave you with a picture of this beautiful flower I took on the same day as the sandbar incident. It saved my day.

Carpe Diem!

2009-10-19T09:16:00.010-05:00

If September was Yin, October is turning out to be Yang. September was an unseasonably warm month, while October is turning into one of the coldest and snowiest. Where I live in Minnesota we have only reached a high of 47 degrees - making this the coldest October ever on record so far. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind cold weather (if I did I certainly wouldn't live in Minnesota) but when my mind is expecting something more seasonable, this kind of weather puts a hamper on any planned activities that are more conducive to warmer weather.

But all is not lost! Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful 62 degrees with the gorgeous Sun making an all day appearance, which has stayed mostly hidden during the first two weeks of October. So trying to take full advantage of this rare occurrence, I decided to make my way to the woods and soak in what I could of this stunningly beautiful Fall day. And one of my favorite ways to do this is biking.

I could try and describe how glorious this day was but I'm afraid I could not do the day justice so I will try and let these pictures describe it for me, even though they too pale in comparison to being there.

"I love Nature partly because she is not man, but a retreat from him. None of his institutions control or pervade her. There a different kind of right prevails. In her midst I can be glad with an entire gladness. If this world were all man, I could not stretch myself, I should lose all hope. He is constraint, she is freedom to me. He makes me wish for another world. She makes me content with this." [Thoreau - Journal 3 January 1853]

"By my intimacy with nature I find myself withdrawn from man. My interest in the sun and the moon, in the morning and the evening, compels me to solitude." [ Thoreau -Journal, 26 July 1851]

"I long for wildness, a nature which I cannot put my foot through, woods where the wood thrush forever sings, where the hours are early morning ones, and there is dew on the grass, and the day is forever unproved, where I might have a fertile unknown for a soil about me." [Thoreau - Journal, 22 June 1853]

"In Wildness is the preservation of the World." [Thoreau - "Walking"]

"We need the tonic of wildness — to wade sometimes in marshes where the bittern and the meadow wren lurk, and hearing the booming of the snipe; to smell the whispering sedge where only some wilder and more solitary fowl builds her nest, and the mink crawls with its belly close to the ground. [Thoreau - Walden "Spring"]

"The order of things should be reversed: the seventh should be man’s day of toil, wherein to earn his living by the sweat of his brow; and the other six his Sabbath of the affections and the soul,—in which to range this widespread garden, and drink in the soft influences and sublime revelations of nature." — Thoreau, “Commercial Spirit”, (Harvard College Commencement, 1837)

When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer

2009-08-31T09:38:00.010-05:00

I first came across this poem quite some time ago and recently re-discovered it. It's one that really strikes home with me because in my profession, I am inundated with details and specifications. So much so that I often lose sight of the big picture and what really matters.

I hope you enjoy it.

When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer - Walt Whitman

When I heard the learn'd astronomer;
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them;
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

Rebuttal To My Previous Post

2009-08-28T12:32:00.008-05:00

Went for a very enjoyable bike ride today. I shot this video that can explain it better than I can try to explain it in words.

FYI...you can't hear the crickets in the video because I shot it with my phone, which also explains the poor quality, but they were chirping like there

is no tomorrow.

Dreamer vs. DOer

2009-08-26T19:16:00.010-05:00

I'm not sure how many people will read this since it's been a few months since my last post but I feel compelled to write it anyway.

I have a confession. As sad as it makes me feel to write this, I am more of a Dreamer than a DOer. I love to dream about all of these great trips that I'm going to take and all these great things that I'm going to do, but when all is said and done, more is said than done.

There is no doubt that it gets my blood pumping and my imagination flowing when I read about other's great adventures, but when it comes time for me to walk-the-walk, I stumble and fall. It seems I always have something that is more important that I need to do first. Or the weather is just not quite right. Or the bugs are too bad. Or I have to get this project done. Or the drive is just too long. Or it's just too much work and not worth the bother. Can you believe it - not worth the bother?!?! Here I am, a man that preaches about all of the wonderful gifts that Mother Nature has to offer each and every one of us and here I sit in my basement thinking about the trip I would like to do "next year" knowing full well that chances are it is never going to come to fruition. The wind will be against me that day.

I have a friend, who I envy a great deal, that is the Yin to my Yang. He always finds the time to fit the important things in his life, like enjoying all that the outdoors has to offer, into his schedule. It doesn't matter that he just drove 400 miles for his job during the day on Friday. Come Friday night, he and his family will be in their car heading 300 miles North just to turn around two days later and drive 300 miles back. For him, he knows what matters most and is willing to do what is necessary to make it happen. Me? Even though I hold Nature very close to my heart and she gives me something very special each and every time I visit her, the slightest ripple will make me reconsider and put it off for another day. "There's always tomorrow/next year."

I've tried many times to change my way of thinking and my friend has helped me a great deal to see the light. But I still feel like I don't take full advantage of what lies all around me.

Take for example the solo canoe trip I was planning to take this summer. Did I do it? No. Why? Because first the water was too high and then it was too low and then I hadn't taken my new canoe out yet so I thought I had better make its maiden voyage on a small lake just so I can get a feel for how it rides on non-moving water instead of on the small river I was planning my trip on just because it has a few turns and obstacles. But have I taken the canoe (that I bought new in May just for this trip) out even once this year? You know the answer by now - absolutely not. There it hangs in my garage collecting a thick layer of dust.

I also had plans to do some long hikes this year. Never happened. Biking? Never happened, at least not on the large overnight scale. I like to blame my situation - married with 3 kids and a job that can be very consuming at times. But in reality, the burden falls on me and me alone. Like my friend, I could find time if I really wanted to. I just don't.

Maybe laying this out there for you to read will motivate me enough the next time an opportunity arrises where I can do what I truly love. At least that's my hope.

I do have a trip coming up in three weeks that will take me to God's country once again. A place where I'm truly happy (once I'm there). And the person planning this trip? My friend I wrote of earlier. I have him to thank for many of my recent adventures. And I thank him every chance I get.

Thanks for listening.

Safer Up There

2009-06-12T10:22:00.011-05:00

I found this poem by Robert Service while reading "One Man's Wilderness" and thought I would share it here:

I’m Scared of it All

I’m scared of it all, God’s truth! so I am;
It’s too big and brutal for me.
My nerve’s on the raw and I don’t give a damn
For all the “hoorah” that I see.
I’m pinned between subway and overhead train,
Where automobillies swoop down:
Oh, I want to go back to the timber again —
I’m scared of the terrible town.

I want to go back to my lean, ashen plains;
My rivers that flash into foam;
My ultimate valleys where solitude reigns;
My trail from Fort Churchill to Nome.
My forests packed full of mysterious gloom,
My ice-fields agrind and aglare:
The city is deadfalled with danger and doom —
I know that I’m safer up there.

I watch the wan faces that flash in the street;
All kinds and all classes I see.
Yet never a one in the million I meet,
Has the smile of a comrade for me.
Just jaded and panting like dogs in a pack;
Just tensed and intent on the goal:
O God! but I’m lonesome — I wish I was back,
Up there in the land of the Pole.

I wish I was back on the Hunger Plateaus,
And seeking the lost caribou;
I wish I was up where the Coppermine flows
To the kick of my little canoe.
I’d like to be far on some weariful shore,
In the Land of the Blizzard and Bear;
Oh, I wish I was snug in the Arctic once more,
For I know I am safer up there!

I prowl in the canyons of dismal unrest;
I cringe — I’m so weak and so small.
I can’t get my bearings, I’m crushed and oppressed
With the haste and the waste of it all.
The slaves and the madman, the lust and the sweat,
The fear in the faces I see;
The getting, the spending, the fever, the fret —
It’s too bleeding cruel for me.

I feel it’s all wrong, but I can’t tell you why —
The palace, the hovel next door;
The insolent towers that sprawl to the sky,
The crush and the rush and the roar.
I’m trapped like a fox and I fear for my pelt;
I cower in the crash and the glare;
Oh, I want to be back in the avalanche belt,
For I know that it’s safer up there!

I’m scared of it all: Oh, afar I can hear
The voice of my solitudes call!
We’re nothing but brute with a little veneer,
And nature is best after all.
There’s tumult and terror abroad in the street;
There’s menace and doom in the air;
I’ve got to get back to my thousand-mile beat;
The trail where the cougar and silver-tip meet;
The snows and the camp-fire, with wolves at my feet;
Good-bye, for it’s safer up there.

With all of the apparent madness in the world these days (just watch the National News - they will tell you), this poem struck me not only as timely (I guess it has always been timely - at least since the Industrial Revolution) but as the obvious truth. I feel more at home, more at peace, with my surroundings when I am in Nature than at any other time. The madness melts away and leaves me only with solitude and silence to ponder. My senses are more keen and my body feels the presence of everything surrounding me. I am truly alive.

This poem can be found in Robert Service's "Rhymes of a Rolling Stone", which I included on this blog as a free PDF. I hope you check it out.

Back From God's Country

2009-05-20T08:58:00.013-05:00

Wow - what a trip. I have never experienced a trip with such extremes as I have on this one. Mother Nature truly showed her Yin and Yang sides on this trip.

My first inclination of things to come was as we were driving up Highway 53, it started to snow. And not just a flake here and there. It was actually snowing and sticking to the roads. Thankfully, it did not last long and soon disappeared. I don't mind snow but when you pack for somewhat warmer temps, I would have rather not seen it.

As we made our way to the boat launch, the skies started to clear and the winds started to subside. And by the time we made it to our campsite on one of the many beautiful islands, it was very calm and peaceful.

After we had set up camp and got the fire burning I noticed these two loons making their way towards our camp. The camera decided to focus on the tree in the foreground so they are a little blurry.

I couldn't have asked for a more fitting way to end the day.

But Mother Nature's mood changed. We woke up to a cold, driving rain that nobody wanted to leave the comfort of their tent to venture out in to go fishing. So we hunkered down thinking that this would pass as the snow had done the previous day. Little did we know that this was here to stay. And not only stay but get much worse.

The temperature that night got down to 25 and we had traces of snow on the ground in the morning. Whitecaps filled the lake as the wind continued to howl and we knew that we could either stay in our tents all day hoping this would pass or we could break camp and head for warmer accommodations. We chose the latter and broke camp.

Taking down a tent in a driving wind is quite comical. All we could do was laugh at the comings-and-goings of poles and tarps and ropes and the like.

After quite some time of getting everything packed away back on the boats, we slowly made our way to the nearest lodge, which we hoped would have a cabin available to rent for the night. Considering the weather, we felt our chances were good. And they were.

That night we hunkered around the fireplace, played cards and had some more laughs at our misadventures of the day. We began planning next year's trip. I think I'll bring an extra pair of long underwear on that one.

Even with all of our trials and tribulations I loved every minute of it and can only dream about what we'll encounter next year.

Off to God's Country

2009-05-11T10:28:00.006-05:00

Today I am off on a spring fishing trip to Voyageurs National Park, specifically Lake Kabetogama. The ice has just left the lake in the past couple of weeks and is the perfect time to fish for walleye, or so I'm told. I hope to have a shore lunch or two in my future.

I've done this trip a few time in the past but it has always been in the fall, never in the spring, so this will be a new experience.

I've always had good intentions of keeping a journal and sharing my experiences of these trips here with you but one thing leads to another and before I know it I'm back at my desk wondering why I didn't put my experiences down on paper. You see, my memory isn't what it was (if you ask my wife, she'd say I never had one) and when I sit down to write about said experiences I can never remember all of the small details. So in frustration, I never write about them at all. I think I need a voice recorder. But the thought of bringing anything 'technological' into the woods, does not appeal to me in the least. I guess I'm in a catch-22, damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation.

Now, where did I put my GPS?

Time for a Voyage - Part 2

2009-05-11T09:12:00.005-05:00

In preparation for my upcoming solo canoe trip in June, I have been pouring over my maps. I'm not sure what gets my blood pumping more - the actual planning of the trip or the trip itself. I look at each bend of the river on the map wondering what could be waiting for me there; a log jam, a mink running the bank, or a rapid requiring nothing but 100% of my attention. I think of the places where I'll be camping and the fires I will build and conferring with about the days events and what lays ahead of me for the following day. I think of the ever-changing smells that permeate the air providing me with an almost overwhelming sense of peace. I think of the mist that will be hovering over the river in the early morning hours providing a feeling of an entirely different world. But mostly, I think of being right with the world once again.

Off the Grid

2009-05-08T09:44:00.003-05:00

I found this character while perusing the interweb and enjoyed this guy so much I thought I would share him here with you. This just goes to prove that with the right attitude and outlook on life, a person really doesn't need much to enjoy life sans materialism. I actually envy Keith.

I've posted this quote from Thoreau in a prior entry but I think it fit's this video perfectly so I am sharing it again:

"I used to see a large box by the railroad, six feet long by three wide, in which the laborers locked up their tools at night; and it suggested to me that every man who was hard pushed might get such a one for a dollar, and, having bored a few auger holes in it, to admit the air at least, get into it when it rained and at night, and hook down the lid, and so have freedom in his love, and in his soul be free."

Twitter, MySpace, FaceBook...

2009-04-15T08:30:00.007-05:00

...and this Blog. Add to this my 9-to-5 Information Technology (IT) job and it seems like I cannot escape from this technological insanity.

My family wanted me to get a MySpace page so we could keep in touch. "Why not just call each other?", you ask. Got me. So I did and it started taking a big chunk of my "after work" time. Soon my friends all started signing up for FaceBook. So I thought, "Ok, I'll play along." And now the latest (and not so greatest) is this thing called Twitter. For those of you that don't know what Twitter is, count your blessings. It's simply another "social networking" gizmo that you are supposed to update with 140 characters or less of what you are currently doing. ie "I'm going shopping right now". I know, who cares. I certainly don't. Hence, I drew the line. Delete.

And what has been suffering most? My time spent in Nature and sharing my experiences here with you. Nature is what keeps me going and I've been completely ignoring her and my Soul has taken the brunt of this neglect. My life was turning into a bunch of ones and zeros.

I need to see the sun rise and set on the same day.

I need to smell the forest right after a cleansing rain.

I need to feel the mud between my toes as I walk along a river bank.

I need to hear the cry of loon on a remote lake as I paddle along its rocky shore.

I need to dance with the trees as they sway back and forth welcoming me into their kingdom.

I need to feel alive.

I need to unplug.

I'll leave you with this thought from Karl Pruter:

"The Industrial Revolution brought with it gadgets to use up our time and to fill our world with sounds that not only drown out the voice of God, but also destroy the silence which is the proper environment for the nurturing of Man's soul. Think about your own life. Take just one day of the week. If your home is typical, you get up in the morning feeling harried and hurried. You must wash, dress, have breakfast, and, if you have children, get them ready for school. Somehow, in all this hurry and confusion, you turn on the radio or television to get the morning news. There doesn't seem to be enough confusion and chaos in the home, so you let in the world's share of confusion and chaos to add to that already existing, and in addition, raise the noise level. We seem, in our time, to be afraid of silence. For, if we get into our cars to go to work, we are apt to immediately turn on the radio instead of enjoying a time of relative quiet."

Time for a Voyage

2009-02-22T18:52:00.008-06:00

Ever since I was a young boy, I have always wanted to canoe down the entire length of Old Man River - the Mighty Mississippi. I would begin at his origin in Itasca State Park here in Minnesota and canoe the meandering path he chose to cut so long ago down to the Gulf of Mexico. This is still just a dream - an even more far fetched dream given my current responsibilities. But I refuse to let the dream go. Everyone needs that one thing to dream about and this is mine.

I have even dreamed about canoeing just the segment from Itasca to the Twin Cities. But again with my current situation and responsibilities even this segment seems beyond my grasp.

So I've been researching other smaller rivers around here and started to put some plans down on paper. There is one particular river nearby that I've canoed during short day adventures and I liked the solitude and stillness it provided enough that I think it would prove quite enjoyable to make an extended trip out of it. It would definitely be a trip to wet my palette.

I pulled out my maps (which got the blood pumping just imagining the trip as I followed the twisting path) and found a stretch that would make a good multi-day trip - long enough to take me away from the insensate babble of the talking heads on TV and the everyday-breaking-news concerning this economy. As Emerson stated, "But I go with my friend to the shore of our little river, and with one stroke of the paddle I leave the village politics and personalities, yes, and the world of villages and personalities behind, and pass into a delicate realm of sunset and moonlight, too bright almost for spotted man to enter without novitiate and probation." But I digress.

Here is my plan:

Total Trip
Start MM(Mile Marker) 91.7
End MM 37.2
Total Distance 54.5 miles
3 Day Avg 18.17 miles

I would plan the three day trip as follows, leaving the last day as my lightest travel day so it would provide me some leeway to make up some miles if needed:

Day1 - 22.9 miles (2.39 to 2.86 mph avg)
Day2 - 21.8 miles (2.18 to 2.73 mph avg)
Day3 - 9.8 miles (.98 to 1.23 mph avg)

Don't ask me why I got so detailed as to calculate the mph avg - it was just something I figured and thought I'd share it here as well.

Now I just need the snow and ice to bid their final farewell for the year. Oh well, more time to dream!

If you would like to read about other people's interesting adventures on canoeing Old Man River, check out these sites:

101 Days

Mississippi River by Canoe

Source to Sea

Waterwalker

2009-02-02T15:16:00.009-06:00

I came across this film "Waterwalker" by Bill Mason while recently wandering the web. I really enjoyed it and thought you might too. It's a little dated as far as video quality but I feel it is still a beautiful and relevant film.

The musings of Bill, along with the music, are wonderful.

If you've had a stressful day, there isn't a better prescription that I could prescribe than telling you to watch this film.

"This feature-length documentary follows naturalist Bill Mason on his journey by canoe into the Ontario wilderness. The filmmaker and artist begins on Lake Superior, then explores winding and sometimes tortuous river waters to the meadowlands of the river's source. Along the way, Mason paints scenes that capture his attention and muses about his love of the canoe, his artwork and his own sense of the land. Mason also uses the film as a commentary on the link between God and nature and the vast array of beautiful canvases God created for him to paint. Features breathtaking visuals and exciting whitewater footage, with a musical score by Bruce Cockburn."

Right of Passage

2009-01-19T08:41:00.011-06:00

Here in the Minnesota Northwoods, Old Man Winter loosened his firm grip slightly over these past few days so I decided to introduce two of my children to ice fishing - a right of passage that I fondly remember from my childhood.

I have always felt something magical about being hunkered down in my little ice shack while the wind and cold whirled outside while at the same time being able to view an underwater world unknown by most people. I was hoping to pass some of this magic on to my children.

We fished for maybe an hour or so and caught a couple Bluegill and Perch. It's always fun for me to watch the kids as they inspect the fins, eyes, gills and scales of the fish up close and personal. It was especially fun watching them release the fish back down the hole and then watching them stick their heads nearly all of the way in the hole so they could see the fish descend back down into the depths below.

I hope they captured a little of the magic that I did as a child.

Here is an excerpt from Thoreau concerning his observations of ice fishing:

"Early in the morning, while all things are crisp with frost, men come with fishing-reels and slender lunch, and let down their fine lines through the snowy field to take pickerel and perch; wild men, who instinctively follow other fashions and trust other authorities than their townsmen, and by their goings and comings stitch towns together in parts where else they would be ripped."

New Mode of Transportation

2008-12-31T09:51:00.008-06:00

Another year in the books. Tomorrow it will be 2009....2009.....man, where does the time go. I know everyone says it every year but it just amazes me just the same because as I grow older the years seem to be flying by faster and faster. But I digress.

Santa brought me something this year that I have wanted for quite some time but have always put off purchasing. "I'll get those next year", was my typical thought. Well, next year is this year and I had a pair of snowshoes and trekking poles waiting for me on Christmas morning.

Snowshoes have always held a special place in my heart and mind. When I think of snowshoes I think of mountain men trudging through snow which would be impassable without them. I think of a small cabin nestled in a valley surrounded by peaks so high they leave the cabin in the cast of their shadow for most of the day. Attached on the cabin, just to the right of the front door, would be a pair of trusted snowshoes hanging in an x-configuration.

When I think of snowshoes I think of quiet times when all you hear is the comforting chirp of the chickadee as it flits from tree to tree.

When I think of snowshoes I think of times of peace and tranquility.

I have these thoughts because in my minds-eye I envision snowshoes taking me to places where few people have traveled and left their mark. They also take me back to a simpler time. Not easier, not by a long shot, but I have to imagine a simpler and more gratifying time.

We have received quite a bit of snow here in the north country so I will hopefully be able to venture out soon and post some of my snowshoe experiences and pictures here.

Happy New Year!

Time to Cut Back

2008-12-17T15:16:00.002-06:00

When I had originally created the website www.SpiritOfTheNorthwoods.com, I had grand intentions. And then I found blogging and now that's all www.SpiritOfTheNorthwoods.com is - a front-end, or gateway, to my blog http://spiritofthenorthwoods.blogspot.com/

Well, as I've been told a time or two, why pay for the cow when you can get the milk for free? Or in my case why pay for a Web Hosting service when all I'm using it for is to point to the free blog I have. Well, beginning Jan 11, 2009, I won't be. I am letting the web hosting service lapse so www.SpiritOfTheNorthwoods.com will be no more but this blog - http://spiritofthenorthwoods.blogspot.com/ - will still exist. So Craigers and Big Cat, if you followed my blog via the www.SpiritOfTheNorthwoods.com link, you'll have to update your shortcut.

However, I am keeping the name registered just because I dig it. And who knows, maybe I'll be struck by lightning and come up with an awesome idea for the site and resurrect it.

Craigers - hope the surgery went well.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

2008-11-27T10:33:00.002-06:00

Busy Bees

2008-10-18T08:16:00.008-05:00

After a long, stressful workweek, I was feeling a bit anxious last night with nothing to do and nowhere to go so I started looking over my books on my bookshelf and decided to browse Sigurd Olson's "Reflections from the North Country" (my favorite Minnesota Northwoods writer). I opened to page 27 and read:

"Our lives seem governed by speed, tension, and hurry. We move so fast and are caught so completely in a web of confusion there is seldom time to think. Our cities are veritable beehives dominated by the sounds of traffic and industry. Even at the top of the highest buildings, one is conscious of the hive's human busyness.
[...]
In the wilderness there is never this sense of having to move, never the feeling of boredom if nothing dramatic happens. Time moves slowly, as it should, for it is a part of beauty that cannot be hurried if it is to be understood. Without this easy flowing, life can become empty and hectic."

Synchronicity - it's am amazing thing. Here I was still buzzing with all of the work tasks I had completed earlier in the day and thinking about the ones I hadn't, leaving me with a feeling like I should be doing something - anything - as long as I wasn't idle. When lo and behold, Sigurd shows me the error of my ways.

So I made myself a cup of tea, sat down in my favorite chair and let Sigurd continue to work his magic.

I was at peace once again.

To Blog Just to Blog

2008-10-06T11:04:00.006-05:00

In my Oct 1st entry, I stated that I was going to challenge myself to log an entry for everyday in October. Well, I've quickly realized that instead of logging entries that really have a special meaning to me and come from my own personal experiences, I'm logging entries just to check that day off my list. Now don't get me wrong - what I have logged from Emerson and others are excerpts that mean a great deal to me and I think they convey what the Spirit of the Northwoods is all about but I still get the feeling that I'm just doing it to say it's done.

So from now on I will only blog when the spirit moves me. If that means blogging once-a-month than so be it. At least I will feel like the entry is coming more from within me than just from a copy-and-paste.

So if you are one of the few that read this blog, don't think I'm blowing this blog off if you don't see an entry for a while. I'm simply waiting for my muse to light that fire.

On Nature's Beauty

2008-10-05T19:10:00.004-05:00

To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same field, it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before, and which shall never be seen again. The heavens change every moment, and reflect their glory or gloom on the plains beneath. The state of the crop in the surrounding farms alters the expression of the earth from week to week. The succession of native plants in the pastures and road-sides, which make the silent clock by which time tells the summer hours, will make even the divisions of the day sensible to a keen observer.

- Emerson

The Men That Don't Fit In

2008-10-04T13:56:00.007-05:00

The Men That Don't Fit In
    - Robert Service

There's a race of men that don't fit in,
    A race that can't stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
    And they roam the world at will.
They range the field and they rove the flood,
    And they climb the mountain's crest;
Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,
    And they don't know how to rest.

If they just went straight they might go far;
    They are strong and brave and true;
But they're always tired of the things that are,
    And they want the strange and new.
They say: "Could I find my proper groove,
    What a deep mark I would make!"
So they chop and change, and each fresh move
    Is only a fresh mistake.

And each forgets, as he strips and runs
    With a brilliant, fitful pace,
It's the steady, quiet, plodding ones
    Who win in the lifelong race.
And each forgets that his youth has fled,
    Forgets that his prime is past,
Till he stands one day, with a hope that's dead,
    In the glare of the truth at last.

He has failed, he has failed; he has missed his chance;
    He has just done things by half.
Life's been a jolly good joke on him,
    And now is the time to laugh.
Ha, ha! He is one of the Legion Lost;
    He was never meant to win;
He's a rolling stone, and it's bred in the bone;
    He's a man who won't fit in.

Never Fail You

2008-10-03T15:23:00.002-05:00

Short but sweet and to the point.

In the Woods

2008-10-02T20:03:00.002-05:00

In the woods, is perpetual youth. Within these plantations of God, a decorum and sanctity reign, a perennial festival is dressed, and the guest sees not how he should tire of them in a thousand years. In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life,--no disgrace, no calamity (leaving me my eyes), which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground,--my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space,--all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball. I am nothing. I see all. The currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part of particle of God.

- Emerson

A New Start

2008-10-01T14:41:00.011-05:00

It's October 1st today. Can you believe it? I can't. The time of flip-flops and warm sunny walks along a soft, sandy shore are over. It is Autumn. And Autumn for me is a time for reflection. A time to think "deep, and suck out all of the marrow of life." A time for change.

So, it is my challenge to myself to log an entry for every day in October. Thirty-one entries for thirty-one days. You may think that that isn't that big of an accomplishment. Well, if you look back at all of my entries, I rarely log more than one entry a month. So for me, this is going to be quite the challenge.

On that note, I'll leave you with these words from Ralph Waldo Emerson, followed by a personal experience which reflects this passage:

To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. His intercourse with heaven and earth, becomes part of his daily food. In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says, -- he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me. Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight. Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece. In good health, the air is a cordial of incredible virtue. Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear. - Emerson

How many of you have felt that 'perfect exhilaration' and have been 'glad to the brink of fear'? I have and it was the most amazing feeling I had ever felt in my entire life. As I was walking through the woods around dusk, with the waning light of day softly filtering through the thick woods, I felt enveloped within her spirit. I held out my hands as to walk hand-in-hand with her and could feel her presence all around me. We danced together down the well-beaten path. Me smiling all the way.

I wish I could say this happens to me every time I'm in Nature, but I'm sad to say it doesn't. In fact, there are maybe only two or three times that I can remember feeling this particular way. But the times it has happened will never be forgotten.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Chance?

2008-09-23T20:01:00.011-05:00

On Saturday I decided to head to my favorite small river in search of my favorite fish - catfish. It was a beautiful day with a slight breeze and temps in the upper 70s; perfect fishing weather.

I pulled off at my favorite campground and after pulling on my waders and gathering up my gear I made my way to the nearest riverbank. What I found was a little disheartening - the water was really low. It was so low that I could see the bottom from bank-to-bank. Not the ideal condition for fish to be wandering in.

But I wasn't going to let a little low water ruin my day. After all, as I stated earlier, it was a beautiful day and I wanted to be exactly where I was. So I hiked up my waders and proceeded to make my way downstream.

Well, I found a few deep holes and caught a few small fish - all released to fight another day. But by far my best catch of the day was this tiny little flower growing out of the root of a dead, fallen tree that was lying in the middle of the river. This dead tree, which is covered with water eighty percent of the year, was providing life to this small, fragile yellow flower. What are the chances? What are the chances that a seedling landed softly on the small root of this tree, took hold, and blossomed in all of its glory, all within the short time that the root was released from its underwater grave? I know a lot of naysayers would say it's extremely likely since a lot of plant life can be found around a river but I like to believe differently. What do you think?

Please click on the photos to view a larger image of this miracle of life.

Nature More

2008-09-19T08:01:00.009-05:00

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes,
By the deep Sea, and music in its roar,
I love not man less, but Nature more.

-- Lord Byron

Stillness

2008-09-13T08:20:00.006-05:00

I recently returned from a trip to Voyagers National Park and have to say I have not been that relaxed and at peace with myself in quite some time. While there, I did a lot of reading and took a lot of beautiful pictures, which I will share here in this and future posts.

I came across this very fitting passage while I read on a rock that overlooked this magnificent vista:

"But for the time being, around my place at least, the air is untroubled, and I become aware for the first time today of the immense silence in which I am lost. Not a silence so much as a great stillness - for there are a few sounds: the creak of some birds in a juniper tree, an eddy of wind which passes and fades like a sign, the ticking of my watch on my wrist - slight noises which break the sensation of absolute silence but at the same time exaggerate my sense of the surrounding overwhelming peace. A suspension in time, a continuous present. If I look at the small device strapped to my wrist the numbers, even the sweeping second hand, seem meaningless, almost ridiculous. No travelers, no campers, no wanderers have come to this part of the desert today and for a few moments I feel and realize that I am very much alone...I wait. Now the night flows back, the mighty stillness embraces and includes me; I can see the stars again, and the world of starlight. I am twenty miles or more from the nearest fellow human, but instead of loneliness I feel loveliness. Loveliness and a quiet exultation." - Edward Abbey

God talked to me this day as I felt an overwhelming peace and stillness wash over me while watching the sunset intermingle with the high wispy clouds producing colors that not even this picture could hope to reproduce.

What I experienced while wrapped in this stillness could never be truly explained - only felt.

Framed in Space

2008-08-27T14:36:00.008-05:00

I cannot believe it has been well over a month since my last post! Where has this summer gone?!? And what did I do with it? Believe me, not all that I had wanted to - like keeping up this blog.

I'm currently reading, Choosing Simplicity, by Linda Breen Pierce and found a passage that hit me in the core of my being because it is exactly how I've been feeling lately.

"Anne Morrow Lindbergh, in her classic book, Gift From the Sea, reflects on the negative aspects of a life cluttered with activity. In contemplating the beauty in life, Lindbergh observes, 'For it is only framed in space that beauty blooms.' Lindbergh refers to the beauty of a tree framed against an empty sky. She reflects that a note in music gains significance from the silence on either side, and that a candle flowers in the space of the night. Lindbergh concludes that her life lacks these qualities - and therefore beauty - because there is so little empty space. So few empty hours on her calendar, or empty rooms in her life in which to stand alone. Too many activities, too many people, too many things. Clearly, our activities as well as material possessions can clutter our lives. If all our energy is devoted to our work, if there are no 'spaces' around that work, where is the beauty in our lives?"

It seem like this summer that is all I've done - jumped from one thing to another with no empty spaces in between. I need space. I need to think and ponder the things that I like to ponder. I need alone time. Me time.

Got to go.

Time Travel

2008-07-07T20:09:00.007-05:00

Well, I did it. Tonight, I traveled back in time. No really. I was 10 or 11 again. Or at least that's how I felt.

You see, I was on my nightly bike ride (the only exercise I can tolerate - well, that and hiking) and it was hot and humid - 87 with a 67 degree dew point, my favorite kind of Summer weather. And as I was meandering through the various bike trails, I noticed some heavy clouds building to the west. And not the white fluffy innocent variety but the super tall Cumulus Nimbus type. The type you usually don't want to mess around with by being outside. But being the adventurous spirit that I am I decided to keep going because I had not seen any lightning or heard any thunder.

It turned out to be one of the better decisions that I have made in quite some time because it started to rain. And not just a little rain but an honest-to-goodness downpour, or as Forrest Gump would have called it "A big fat rain". At first, I felt a slight trepidation because I was an adult getting caught in the rain. Adults aren't supposed to get caught in the rain. But as I continued, I let all of that trepidation go and just went with it. There I was riding down the road, face turned into the rain, and smiling. Just smiling. Smiling.

And for a brief moment, I thought I heard my Mom yelling at me to get in the house before I catch a cold. But I kept pedaling and smiling.

Just a few more minutes Mom. Please?

Healing

2008-07-07T14:48:00.003-05:00

An exceptional quote from Emerson:

"To the body and mind which have been cramped by noxious work or company, nature is medicinal and restores their tone. The tradesman, the attorney comes out of the din and craft of the street, and sees the sky and the woods, and is a man again. In their eternal calm, he finds himself. The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough."

-- Emerson

Enough

2008-07-03T10:05:00.024-05:00

"If a man walk in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer; but if he spends his whole day as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making earth bald before her time, he is esteemed an industrious and enterprising citizen. As if a town had no interest in its forests but to cut them down!"

Thoreau, "Life Without Principle”

This passage has always had a huge impact on me. It saddens me that even though this was written over 150 years ago, it continues to ring true to this day. Since the inception of this country, Big Business and the bottom line have always taken precedence over our Natural resources in our ever increasing consumptive society. Will we not be happy until we have exhausted every Natural resource available to us?

ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge)is a perfect example. We are so desperate for oil that we are willing to drill in one of the truly last wild places on Earth. And for what - a nickel drop for a gallon of gas, all the while the rich get richer? And even though I will probably never see this special place in person, it pains me to think that, as a society, we are willing to take the risk of ruining it for the sake of Big Business, because when it comes down to it, the extraction of oil from this wildlife sanctuary would not be for the benefit of the people, but rather for the benefit of Big Business.

Will we ever learn?

"This winter they are cutting down our woods more seriously than ever,—Fair Haven Hill, Walden, Linnæa Borealis Wood, etc., etc. Thank God, they cannot cut down the clouds."
- Thoreau

An Original Work

2008-06-23T20:26:00.004-05:00

I'm not one who usually presents my writing to the public - one, because I don't think it's good enough and two, because I hate feeling like people are critiquing me - but I thought this particular piece of prose was appropriate for this site so I'm throwing it out there for all three of you to see. ;)

Longing

I sat upon a log near a steady stream
wavering in and out of my perpetual dream
living in the woods is where I wish to be
getting to know the birds, the trees and who is truly me.

The trees talk to me as they dance and sway
urging me to stay yet one more day
to come and play as I did as a child
to experience once again what is sacred and wild.

-- Me

Power of Slowing

2008-05-22T09:22:00.004-05:00

"Let your mind be quiet, realizing the beauty of the world, and the immense, the boundless treasures that it holds in store. All that you have within you, all that your heart desires, all that your Nature so specially fits you for - that or the counterpart of it waits embedded in the great Whole, for you. It will surely come to you."

-- Edward Carpenter

Nature's Help

2008-04-28T09:08:00.005-05:00

I have a confession......I like technology. In fact, I used to love it. It's how I make my living. But with the passing of time (and gaining of wisdom?), I've come to be wary of it. If one is not too careful, technology can quickly consume one's life and before you know it you forgot how the meadow looks and feels on a moist Summer morning as the water droplets shine "like diamonds in the dew".

I've also come to realize, with the help of my five year-old son, that technology has a way of sucking out the imagination. We currently have a Xbox, a Xbox 360, and numerous PC games that my son plays. But as soon as the 'newness' of a new game wears off, he becomes 'bored' rather quickly and announces he doesn't know what to do. When I was his age (or maybe a little older - I don't have too many five-year-old memories), I was constantly outside playing in the woods and fields, making up games as I went. I'm sure I had bouts of boredom, but I truly cannot remember being bored. And I think I have Nature to thank for it. My friends were the trees, birds and frogs that I encountered during my daily expeditions through unknown lands and territories. I would be out after breakfast and sometimes not return until well after lunch. And as soon as I refueled, I would be out again.

I truly feel guilty for letting technology creep into our lives as it has and I have come to the realization that I must change this pattern before my son loses this truly magical time of his life. And as I have done many times in the past, I will be turning to Nature for her help.

This weekend I am planning a Nature trail walk and will introduce my son to some of my old friends. Maybe he'll gain a friend or two of his own in the process.

Too Much Information

2008-02-28T17:00:00.007-06:00

Thoreau wrote this in his journal on September 13th, 1852:

I must walk more with free senses. It is as bad to study stars and clouds as flowers and stones. I must let my senses wander as my thoughts, my eyes see without looking. What I need is not to look at all, but a true sauntering of the eye.

How often do we go about our daily lives without analyzing everything we see? I would venture to say not often enough. Instead of just seeing an object, we are always analyzing - weight, dimensions, usefulness. As soon as we see a Dandelion, we think - weed, kill, destroy - instead of really seeing how the yellow spikes of the flower extend like the grandest firework during a 4th of July celebration. We put labels on everything we encounter during our comings-and-goings of everyday life. How much more interesting would life be if we just let our eyes saunter once in awhile?

The Path

2008-01-19T11:00:00.000-06:00

"And I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference", never rang truer for me today for on my winters walk I visited the top of a large hill that overlooks a small frozen lake; a place where I blindly walk around day-after-day during my lunch hour.
Because there was no "man made" trail, I hitched a ride on the back of a whitetail, and oh, a better trail had not been laid. I rode him to the top and back down again, knowing I would never lose my way or be confronted with any perilous obstacles, for the whitetail is one of the wood's wisest tenants and would never put itself in harms way.

"The Road Not Taken"

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

"Then took the other as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

"And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

-- Robert Frost

A Cleansing Snow

2008-01-18T08:25:00.000-06:00

Wow - it's been a long time since my last entry. I swear the older you get the faster time streaks by. I know physics would say otherwise but I believe it to be true.

My winters walk was wonderfully satisfying today. With the light dusting of snow we received last night, the "crunch, crunch" echoed beneath my boots. Many a-chickadee were out today enjoying the wonderful day as well, chit-chatting as they flitted from tree to tree.

With the sun joining me today, I shed my gloves, hat and even unzipped my coat.

It was a great day to be alive.

2007 Fall Pictures Slideshow

2007-10-10T13:27:00.000-05:00

Here is a slide show of some of my 2007 Fall Pictures found in my Webshots album:

2007 Fall Images

Hope you enjoy them!

Images of Autumn

2007-10-03T14:55:00.000-05:00

Here a few Autumn pictures I captured on some of my recent Nature walks (click on each one for a larger version):

Red Maple Leaf in the Water

Yellow Leaf which had recently fell into the water.

Fall tree line not long after a Thunderstorm passed through.

Bite of Wind

2007-09-14T09:59:00.000-05:00

Another venture into the wild woods today. There is a front moving through and the wind had an extra bite to it today. It was rather warm this morning (54) and I'm guessing it must already be down to the mid 40's. But it was another very enjoyable walk. I noticed the "Lodge-Pole" pines today and began to wonder how arduous a process it must be in building a log cabin. But also how gratifying! Building a home with what Nature, and not Home Depot, provides.

I spied a group of birds (I believe they were blackbirds but were too far away to be certain) flying this way and that. It appeared they had no rhyme or reason to the flight path they chose - left then right, right then left. Are they trying to gather their numbers before their big migration? Or are they just deciding when to begin their annual journey south? Whatever their motives, it was quite a sight.

I saw a squirrel busily gathering food for his long winter hibernation. He wanted no part of me, however, and scampered up the nearest big oak as soon as he deemed I was too close for comfort.

There is a willow near the lake that looked unusually beautiful today. Maybe because it stood out from its bland surroundings with its bright yellow leaves and its horizontal wind-blown posture.

The Woods

2007-09-12T09:07:00.000-05:00

It happened to me again today and I embrace it more than any other feeling in the world. I have just completed my walk in the woods and an almost overwhelming feeling of peace and contentment overcame me. The smell of the damp leaves, the crisp breeze, and the frantic scurrying of squirrels brought on an extreme feeling of being right with the world. And as I was walking, my mind turned, once again, to Thoreau and his simplistic, yet most gratifying, way of life. How I yearn to live as he. Enough with computers, T.V., the "information superhighway", and so on and so on. Let me experience the chatter of a cardinal, the slow fall of a leaf floating down to it's resting place on a calm lake, the simultaneous feeling of a crisp breeze competing with the warmth of the Autumn sun on my face. Nature encompasses the true meaning of life.

Grain of Sand

2007-09-07T16:03:00.002-05:00

Thought of the Day:

"To see the world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wildflower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour."

- William Blake

Lack of Entries

2007-09-03T12:02:00.002-05:00

It seems that no matter what my intentions are all of my "non-essential" tasks take a back seat during the summer months. With kids, vacations, chores, honey-do's, and everything else mixed in, I find my time and energy level is severely limited when it comes to things like keeping up a blog. And it seems like towards the end of every summer I realize my lack of progress on efforts such as these and try to hurriedly make up for my lapses. So with that said, I hope to start making more frequent posts as I try to redeem myself.

I recently read this from Thoreau's "Walking" and thought I'd share it here:

"What is it that makes it so hard sometimes to determine whither we will walk? I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright."

It is amazing to me the difference I feel about life in general if I take a walk with Nature even if only for 1/2 hour or so. It is truly revitalizing.

Happy Birthday Henry David Thoreau!!

2007-07-12T11:33:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday to Henry David Thoreau!!

"Even the death of Friends will inspire us as much as their lives. They will leave consolation to the mourners, as the rich leave money to defray the expenses of their funerals, and their memories will be incrusted over with sublime and pleasing thoughts, as monuments of other men are overgrown with moss; for our Friends have no place in the graveyard." - Thoreau

Box House

2007-04-13T10:25:00.001-05:00

Thoreau wrote, "I used to see a large box by the railroad, six feet long by three wide, in which the laborers locked up their tools at night; and it suggested to me that every man who was hard pushed might get such a one for a dollar, and, having bored a few auger holes in it, to admit the air at least, get into it when it rained and at night, and hook down the lid, and so have freedom in his love, and in his soul be free."

As extreme as this passage is, it speaks to me about the materialistic aspect of my life and makes me think about why I scratch-and-claw my way through this life, going to a job that does absolutely nothing for me spiritually, when in the end it doesn't really matter how big my house is. Why are we so compelled to compete with the Smith's or the Jones's?

Thoreau goes on to write, "Most men appear never to have considered what a house is, and are actually though needlessly poor all their lives because they think that they must have such a one as their neighbors have. Shall we always study to obtain more of these things, and not sometimes to be content with less?"

My wife and I were kicking around the idea of buying a bigger house until we finally looked at each other and asked, "Why?". We didn't need it. Our current house has enough bedrooms so each our three children can have their own so why did we need a bigger one? The answer was, of course, we didn't. But that is the mentality of our culture today. More, more, more and the bigger the better.

Where's my hammer and nails? It's time to build my railroad box.

Grey Owl

2007-04-04T10:03:00.001-05:00

Because I had renewed a library book (Mink, Mary and Me - a very worthwhile Northwoods adventure read) twice, the library thought that it had given me more than enough time for me to have read it and so did not let me renew it a third time.

By luck, or Fate, as you will see in a second, they had an additional copy of Mink, Mary and Me that was not checked out (you see, they will also not let you check in a copy of a book and turn around and check out the same copy again. I know, I don't understand it either) so I ventured to where the additional copy was shelved and woke it up from its long rest. Upon doing so, and this is where Fate made her appearance, I noticed a book titled Tales of an Empty Cabin by Grey Owl. I thought the title sounded rather inviting so I also woke it up from its undoubtedly long slumber (these books are first editions and are located in the Special Collection section of the library, with published dates of 1946 and 1936 respectively so I'm guessing these are not checked out that often. In fact most books in this dark section of the library looked lonely and abandoned) and flipped it open.

These are the first words I read:

"And as I write my pen seems filled, not with ink, but with the sighing of the night wind in these forests, the gurgling of sunny watercourses; with the crash and roar of rapids, the hiss of whirling snowstorms, the crackle and the glow of open fires.

I will try with it, this pen of mine, to bring you something of the spirit of Romance, something of the grandeur and the beauty, a little of the Soul of this untamed and untamable Northland. And though, maybe, I reach a little beyond my stature and these efforts fall short of their high intention, even so, you who read may find perhaps some passing interest in these stories."

I couldn't have said it any better. Thank you Grey Owl.

This book will be lonely no more.

Quiet Morning

2007-03-24T11:49:00.000-05:00

This morning I awoke to a fog enshrouded world so I quickly grabbed my camera gear and headed out on my morning walk. There is a strange and wonderful feeling to a world which has not only been reduced in size by the fog but also in the everyday colors and textures one sees on any 'normal' day. The trees blend in with the surrounding air, the water with the land, and the horizon with sky.

Here are a few of the pics I captured:

Cattail Fight

2007-03-20T20:42:00.001-05:00

I survived a fight with a cattail today. No, really.
I decided once again to take a different trail during my afternoon walk (what's new and exciting in taking the same trail twice?!?) and happened upon a few cattails standing stoically in the frozen marsh. I decided to help free their seeds into the crisp winter air and with one fluid motion grabbed the bottom of the cattail bulb and pulled up thereby freeing all the seeds. I thought I would turn my back to the wind so I wouldn't get a face full of cattail seeds but because my back was against the wind, it created a backwash much like a rock creates an eddy in a stream, and while most seedlings lightly blew away from me, a good portion reversed direction and hit me smack in the face. My coat, hat, gloves, and pants were covered. I just smiled and commenced to brushing them off. I knew I would learn something today - don't mess with cattails.

Winter Season

2007-03-16T09:08:00.001-05:00

I've come to the conclusion that I enjoy the Winter season a great deal more than any other season, with maybe the exception of Fall and early Summer. For one, there are no bugs to buzz around your head, tormenting you, especially the pesky mosquito, who persistently inform you that any attempt to escape is futile; but infinitely more important, in the Winter I usually find myself alone in these woods, which in the summer are teaming with people and business. But in the winter, I am left alone to truly experience and become one with Nature.

Like today on my winters walk, I was alone on top of my favorite hill listening, without interruption, to what Nature wanted to share with me today. There could have not been a more surreal experience than the one I enjoyed today. I felt wrapped within Nature herself.

A heavy snow had fallen last night and coated every branch, trunk, twig, and path with a fresh coat of purity. I tried my hardest to burn that image into my brain, as I hope to never forget it.

Along my winters walk, I had reminders that my true neighbors had recently traveled these same paths - rabbit, squirrel, raccoon, and of course, the whitetail. I hopped on the back of the majestic whitetail to help guide me through the brush and brambles. At times he ventured into places I'm sure he thought would knock me off, but such was not the case. I merely took the form of my friend and walked as he walked; strong and sure.

Simple Pleasures

2007-03-14T14:17:00.002-05:00

This past weekend, I finished Canoe Trip by David Curran. I enjoyed the book so much that I finished it in two sittings, albeit only a 133 pages long.

There is one particular passage that struck home with me so much so that I felt I could have written it myself. Here it is, from page 71:

"All day long I had been thinking of just covering the distance, just covering the distance. I'd had my head down concentrating on my strokes. When my head came up my eyes were focused on hitting the wind and the waves right or I stared beyond my bow into the distance to where I wanted to be. I have been fighting that attitude on every trip. It is a goal of mine to try as hard as I can to just be where I am; to not be reaching with either my eyes or my mind. I say it to myself. 'Be where I am', I say and repeat it like the exercise that it is. I say it out loud for emphasis.

I have been trying simply to focus on the immediate present and on what I am doing and not slip into that unhappy wasteland between the present and the future; between where you want to be but are not and where you are yet ignore and disdain."

There have been numerous times when I've returned from an "adventure" only to find out that I have been so focused on the end, the finish-line, that I forgot to enjoy the simple pleasures of the trip. And I've been so mad at myself for these lapses. For me, just being in the moment is the most rewarding aspect that Nature can offer, but often missed or forgotten. I'm always "staring beyond the bow into the distance" instead of watching the water slide by with each stroke of the paddle. Instead of seeing the bird on opposite shoreline scampering up and down the muddy bank looking for a morsel for lunch, I only saw I was making good time but could make better if I'd only paddle a little harder, a little faster.

I've missed much.

A Winters Walk

2007-03-14T11:14:00.001-05:00

I went for a winters walk today and as I started to make my descent from the top of the hill, a soft falling snow greeted me. I thought that as bad as my job is, it at least enables me to attend Nature's class; to experience what she has to teach. And what a class she held today! Winter is such a magical, peaceful season. Not one mosquito to greet me in the marsh. Only the fluttering chickadees fleeting from tree to tree.
I think I may post an ad on Ebay asking someone to lend me the use of their cabin for a winter season so I can experience my own Walden. I have never confronted the basics, the beauty, of life without the encumbrances of a schedule. How much could I learn about myself and the creatures on Mother Earth?

As I was walking today, ideas were flooding into my brain and I knew by the time I made it back to my 3-walled prison, I would forget the majority of them. As much as I loathe technology at times, I think a portable MP3 recorder would come in handy on my little excursions for just such a reason.

A Journey

2007-01-11T13:30:00.003-06:00

As the old adage goes, "A journey of 1,000 miles begins with the first step."

Or at least that's how I remember it.

So I begin my journey today by making my first post to this blog.

With this blog I hope to share my experiences and learnings of Nature with you in such a way that you will thirst for more and want to begin your own Journey. I'm hoping this will not only bear its fruit for me but for you as well.

At my side will be Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sigurd Olson, Kenny Salwey, and many others. These greats have made this same Journey and have stashed away the nuts they found in such a beautiful way that they must be shared among us all.

And I might as well start with the most well known, and very applicable, quote by Thoreau;

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, to discover that I had not lived.

I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary.

I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and to be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion."