We are usually out before sunrise, Himself and Spencer and I, wandering among the wooded hills, or sometimes by the lake as early November fog wraps itself around us in billows and swirls and nebulous clouds. Spencer potters along in his own happy nosy German Shorthair fashion, seeking interesting smells and wild creatures to point, reflecting happily on his life with us and thinking about fine rambles in the woods in Lanark when the hunting season has gone the way of all good and earthly things in a few weeks' time.
And me??? At some time in the wee hours of this morning, Daylight Saving Time became a thing of the past, and time danced backward an hour in the little blue house in the village. This is also an anniversary of sorts for it marks six whole years of blogging at Beyond the Fields We Know - six years of logging on here in the morning, posting bad photos and muttering along for a few paragraphs. An astonishing state of affairs, and the thought boggles the old mind. . . I still can't quite come to terms with my sass and brass and temerity in setting this e-journal up in the first place, let alone doing the blogging thing faithfully for six years in a row. When I go back and look at some of my earlier efforts here, I am appalled, simply appalled.
This is a diary of sorts; these are my morning or artist's pages, and so they shall remain. I am not contemplating any significant changes to this little corner of the blogging planet during the coming year, and I expect life will simply go along as it has so far. Apprentices of wonder, we will all continue to meander along at our own pace, watching morning fogs enfold the village, bare trees swaying against the sky, oak leaves raining dew like honey in the park, old Helios going down like a great ball of fire over Dalhousie Lake at the edge of the year. We are enfolded in the Great Round of time, and the small adventures of our journeying will continue to make their way here and spill out out on the computer screen a few hours after sunrise.
Darling departed Cassie is always with us on our wanderings; we can hear her soft breathing and feel her dancing along beside us, but her happy feet make no sound in the fallen leaves on the trail. The four of us are a tribe, and we belong together. The words that came to mind as we all pottered along in the fog together yesterday were those of the incandescently gifted Mary Oliver.
The years to come—this is a promise—
will grant you ample time
to try the difficult steps in the empire of thought
where you seek for the shining proofs you think you must have.
But nothing you ever understand will be sweeter, or more binding,
than this deep affinity between your eyes and the world.
Mary Oliver, Excerpt from Terns
Thank you for journeying along here with me. You are more precious and wonderful than you can ever know.
18 comments:
1. Your photos are gorgeous. I know nothing about photography but they touch me deeply.
2. We all are appalled when looking back at our blogs. It's the nature of the raw, no-time-for-revision law they operate under. It's also what makes them immediate and real.
3. Looking over your comments, it is clear I am not the only reader moved by your words and images. And they are multiplying. I myself am new. Despite the fact I also live in Canada, it was a poet in England who introduced me to "Beyond the Fields We Know". Your eye and voice reach far beyond the little blue house in the village and its environs.
I look forward to accompanying you and yours silently, in the invisible background with Cassie, on your journey through the year ahead.
"Apprentices of wonder" ...
That may be the most eloquent description I have ever heard. Masterful word usage!
Thank you for sharing your journey with all of us.
Your blog is a morning constant in my life...thank you.
Your blog is beautiful. After I posted my own appreciation of it at Writer's Rest, someone wrote to tell me that she now reads it first thing in the morning, every day.
Your blog is beautiful. After I posted my own appreciation of it at Writer's Rest, someone wrote to tell me that she now reads it first thing in the morning, every day.
"Apprentices of wonder, meandering..." Of course you know I love that phrase :)
I love traveling with you, as another apprentice of wonder, on this journey with you. Seeing life through your eyes, feeling how you experience life. It brings me back to what really matters - the nature of things...
Your photos and "talking leaves" sing to my Heart and brighten my mornings - and my life! And I thank you for being here!
With admiration... Christine
Happy six years, Cate.
I enjoy the beauty and magic of your writing, along with the pictures.
Here's to many more years to come.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos and inspiring thoughts!
Happy anniversary.
Congratulations and thank you for sharing your visions and reflections for 6 years. They have no doubt enriched you, and certainly have enriched your readers!
Your daily journeys and reports resonate very much... my personal motto is: "Explore > Wonder < Repeat". Thank you for exploring, and sharing the Wonder that is in the "mundane", if only we stop to perceive and receive it.
Congratulations on 6 years of blogging. Your photos and words often touch me and make we wish I could venture along with you someday - but virtual travelling along the paths via your words and photos are pretty darned good :)
I love your blog so much; it never fails to make me pause and reflect on the wonder of the journey we're all on, and the beauty of our "little blue planet".
I am so happy I discovered you in the blogoverse! You (and your blog) feel like dear friends to me. Happy anniversary!
I am also one who reads you first in the mornings. Your thoughts and photographs set me on the right course for my day. I never fail to be lifted, calmed, and exhilarated by your blog. Thank you.
Beyond all the beauty you share in words and pictures, we are blessed by the very constancy, reliability of your presence here. You provide inspiration not only in amazing content, but also as a standard to which we can aspire. Thank you!
I love, love, love your work. I have never been appalled. Always amazed. I feel blessed to have known you through your photos and words. Here's to more and more "fog and blogs." xoxo
And thank you for sharing the richness of your world, as well as your deep and abiding appreciation for it. Your postings makes me think of the Mary Oliver line of letting the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Your love spills over and opens many of our hearts a little more each day...
Congratulations on 6 years of beautiful writing! Kindred spirits are a blessing, wherever we meet them. I wish you many more years of dancing with words.
Maggie x
Cate ~ wow, how wonderful that you have shared your visionary words with us all...not appalling love, witnessing life from the north scribed with an artist's pen! I've been here, morphed through some tough changes almost the same amount of time...
Thank you dear one for continuing to inspire...seriously. And who can forget Cassie...
Peace,
W*R*O*
Happy Anniversary and thank you for sharing so much beauty here.
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