Sunday, April 06, 2008

Just Breathing By the Water

It's what one dreams of in winter, this slow fluid transformation into springtime. Legions of cold clear rivers, creeks and streams higher in the Canadian Shield are melting and plunging impetuously down cliffs and hillsides, singing gloriously as they travel over the rocks. They make a fine madcap music with rampant joy in every note and trill, and there are times when they simply cannot restrain themselves and must shriek with joy.

It is cold in the north woods, and there is still a lot of deep snow about here. There is enough snow to make my pottering about on snowshoes an ordeal fraught with possible unfortunate consequences, but I must go, and I go whenever I can, stopping here and there along the way to watch smoke rising from the Lanark maple sugar camps tucked in among the trees.

When I arrive at the Two Hundred Acre Wood, I find an impetuous fast-flowing tributary with a flat rock near by, and I sit there for an hour or two in the sunshine, connecting with the earth and the sky and just breathing in and out. Again and again, I find myself wondering what I ever did to deserve such richness and light and wild community.

Spring is finally on its way methinks. Far out, terrific, tubular, grand and definitely cool. Emaho!

2 comments:

Lil said...

down here in southern ontario, i can relate to this, except for the lingering snow.

and for the first time in months, i walked on the earth in my bare feet ~ yeehah!!

Suzie Ridler said...

Oh my heart aches as I read this, you are such a beautiful writer. I love when you write about the world around you and it connects me with the brief time I spent travelling through Northern Ontario, one of the most magical places I have ever been.

I'm so happy Spring is finally finding you there too. She's visited briefly here and I hope she stays for a while soon.