New Haunts

I set out for an afternoon snowshoe not knowing where to go.  I had visited all my old haunts recently, and was craving something new. 

 

I went through the swamp and climbed up a small valley.  From there, I just walked through the woods.  The hardwood forest made for easy walking and the sun was making the snow shine and sparkle all around.

 

Eventually I came across a creek bed.  I followed it down to the river above the falls.  I am so glad I found this creek as it serves to add to my knowledge of the geography back there.  I look forward to visiting it in spring, when it is overflowing with melt water.

 

The next time I visit this creek, I will hike up away from the river to find it's source.

 

 

 

 

Snow Hike

We still have a significant amount of snow, but it's perfectly packed right now, making walking possible.  Today we ventured out into the fields and forest.

In the Trees

The past few days have been blustery ones.  I've cursed the wind and stinging snow, and in particular, the horrific driving conditions.  But, in the night as I lay in bed falling asleep, the sounds high in trees remind me that this place isn't so bad after all.

 

I love the wildness of it.  I like living somewhere where the unpredictability of the natural world is right there - a glance outside my window and footsteps outside my door.  I love being able to hike half an hour into the bush and be somewhere where no one may have ever laid eyes- or haven't for many years.  We are slowly changing that, of course, with all the exploring that we do.

 

The noises in the trees reminds me why I wanted to live here in the first place.  When I was younger I always had a vision of myself living in a forest. We don't exactly reside right in a forest, but we are obviously surrounded by them, and by trees large enough to make that whoosh when the wind whistles through their highest boughs.

 

I'm lucky to live in such a place. 

An Autumn Walk

The Ski Hill

We took a hike Sunday afternoon accross the field and up the "mountain".  For my husband it was another walk down memory lane.

Twenty some years ago, they had a very small scale ski hill here, complete with a tow rope and a "lodge".

The tow rope worked with pulleys and was run with the help of a running van wheel.  The van also served as the "lodge" where they could warm up in between runs.  The van is easy to spot, and we found the old tow rope, mossed over and partially hidden among the leaves.

Eventually Rick found the place on the hill where the run was, given away by a swath of younger trees.

From the top of the hill, you can see Maple Lake.

There is so much to explore and see up there, and I can't wait to go back.

Be Here Now

Be here now, no other place to be

Or just sit there dreaming of how life would be

If we were somewhere better

Somewhere far away from all worries

Well, here we are

Lyrics from "Be Here Now",  Mason Jennings 

Those lyrics pretty much sum up my thought process right now.  I am pushing myself to live in the moment.  Adopting this philosphy is somewhat out of my comfort zone.  I'm a planner and a list maker.  That's not to say that I've totally abandoned all my crazy type-A, organizing ways, but I'm trying to soak up the good things that are around me when they are happenening.

What's happening right now?  Spring woodland flowers.

In the spring, the forest canopies are wide open as the new leaves start to emerge.  This illuminates the forest floor in a way that it never is any other time of the year.  New growth emerges in the form of delicate woodland flowers.  Pockets of green on the dusky brown of last fall's leaves give them away.  These plants take advantage of the light and bloom in April and May.  By later May, the canopy is closed, and the flowers are finished until next year. 

Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum)

Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica)

White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)

Trilliums usually bloom later - they are typically in full force come mid-May.  Our woods are blanketed in them.

I hope you are out there enjoying all the moments of your life.

Hear "Be Here Now" by Mason Jennings here.

Bread and Butter Indian

When I was in grade 3, there was a book in our school's library that I read compulsively.  I tried reading other books, and did, but always found myself coming back to the old, worn and familiar, Bread and Butter Indian.  I'm not sure what it was about this book that drew me, but it's passages soothed me, and I loved the imagery.

Bread and Butter Indian  is a book about a young pioneer girl who makes a Native American friend in a time of unrest between new settlers and the Native Americans.  He appears soundlessly beside her, able to move through the woods without so much as cracking a twig on the forest floor.  I was drawn to this character.  I wanted to move through the woods (and life, really) with that much grace.  I wanted to be strong and silent.

The title comes from the snack that the young girl made in the book.  White bread and butter, sprinkled over with sugar.  If you've never tried this- do, it's really good.  How divine was it to be reading Bread and Butter Indian while eating the very snack that Barbara was making in the book?  That was perfection to my 8 year old self.

I thought of this book yesterday while on a rare alone hike.  I went back through the field and forest to the small falls.  I'd never been back that far before, and I wasn't disappointed.  A weak sun made an appearance as I explored the riverbank, and I was filled with happiness and excitement over having such a place to visit.

As I made my way down along the creek, and back through the woods, I was throwing caution to the wind, and going off-trail.  I knew the general direction of the road, and really, now that I know more of the geography back there, it's not hard to get lost.  What is  hard, for me, anyway, is to move through the forest with any amount of coordination or grace.  I`m quite sure that anyone witnessing my progression through the forest would immediately think I`d been injured, or was in need of some sort of physical therapy. Bread and Butter Indian I am not.  It`s no wonder I never see any wildlife.

Going Around the Mountain

Spring has a way of showing us things that we hadn't noticed before.  After the snow melts, but before anything starts growing, we are presented with a landscape that is laid bare.  The fields and forest floors are flat and sodden with last fall's grasses and leaves.  The lay of the land is clear.  The canopies are open, illuminating previously dark corners of the woods.

Yesterday we went out for a walk in the field and forest edge across the road.  Part of our trek included a section that my husband's family called "going around the mountain".

I enjoy doing these hikes with Rick.  I like hearing tales from his childhood and feeling connected to a piece of land in a way that I never have before.  It's on these walks that my faith in our choice to move here is reaffirmed.  This connection to land, water, rock, and deep rooted family history is what I want.