The nobility of just being


© Van Waffle
Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic

The nobility of just being

Good Friday was appropriately dark in the Haliburton Highlands. All night and all day, a northeast wind blew, straight off our bay and into the face of the cottage. By morning, it had already torn branches out of our Eastern hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis) and a large limb of yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis) beside the neighbour's deck.

But Easter Sunday dawned clear and bright. After breakfast, my two daughters and I hiked across the dirt road and through the forest behind, dense with sugar maple (Acer saccharum) saplings and the slender trunks of striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum). I love crossing the gurgling stream that by July will be barricaded with lush raspberry canes and become the impassible domain of mosquitoes.

A place to be

In April we can visit my favourite outdoor sanctuary, the foot of a massive granite outcrop. Ancient hemlocks arch like cherubic statues, casting perpetual shade for the circles of interrupted club-moss (Lycopodium annotinum), common polypody (Polypodium virginianum), and wood-fern (Dryopteris sp.) The cliff faces north, but the dark stone is shrouded bright with mosses and glaucous lichens. This place is verdant.

In a remote spot of sunlight that penetrated the canopy, we glimpsed a ruffed grouse(Bonasa umbellus) alight on a mouldering stump. He danced nervously onward, as though leading us on our path to scale the slope. Once or twice he flickered through another bath of light, like a feathered dryad leading us to our fate. The top edge must reach at least 25 metres above the thick leaf mould below. It overlooks the canopy of giants.

Being happy

"I wonder why I'm scared of heights when I'm not really in danger," said Marian, my elder daughter, as she mounted a dizzy overhang. "But here, when it's actually dangerous, I'm not afraid."

"Because you're on an adventure; you're having fun," I said. "It's harder to be scared when you're happy."

We took a handful of moss tufts to garnish our garden in a small clearing beside the cottage.

The art of being

Later that afternoon I lay on the dock, feeling the sun through my black jeans, warm on the backs of my legs and buttocks. My face extended beyond the dock's edge, practically touching the high water, recently free of ice. The loons(Glavia immer) had wasted no time in arriving and beckoning to one another from various corners of the lake. I rinsed my hands of dirt left from garden work.

Brenna had gone inside to play. Marian, who is eight, walked onto the

Go To Page: 1 2 3


Post this Article to facebook Add this Article to del.icio.us! Digg this Article furl this Article Add this Article to Reddit Add this Article to Technorati Add this Article to Newsvine Add this Article to Windows Live Add this Article to Yahoo Add this Article to StumbleUpon Add this Article to BlinkLists Add this Article to Spurl Add this Article to Google Add this Article to Ask Add this Article to Squidoo


Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: View all related messages

6.   Jul 30, 2000 2:31 PM
Your note is a good reminder for me, too, Brenda, now that my daughters are with me for an extended time: their summer vacation.

There are many disadvantages for children of broken families, but a ...


-- posted by silvan


5.   Jul 29, 2000 1:44 PM
Hello there,

I especially enjoyed your article because my sister and I have been doing a lot of reading that includes the concept of "being". Your article is a good reminder that I need to be more ...


-- posted by imbrenda


4.   May 6, 2000 7:11 AM
It would be fun to put together a gallery of people's favorite places to be! Mine would be no surprise: sitting on the dock on a still summer evening, watching the sky fade to deep lavender, seeing li ...

-- posted by silvan


3.   May 5, 2000 6:47 AM
Lovely article, Sylvan. I spent a Sunday afternoon, just being, in the meadow among some butterflies and wildflowers. It was lovely and inspiring, and I hope you enjoy this photo I took of one of my ...

-- posted by Renie_Burghardt


2.   May 5, 2000 6:44 AM
<img SRC="http://www.suite101.com/files/topics/4702/files/swallow.jpg"align=right>

-- posted by Renie_Burghardt





Join the latest discussions

For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Van Waffle's Living With Nature topic, please visit the Discussions page.