Portage

December 27, 2009

Winter Solstice Sun

Filed under: Reflection, nature — Deborah @ 6:09 pm

WinterSunWith the Winter Solstice on December 21st, we in the North Country are immersed in more dark than light. I feel exhilarated when a sunny day comes my way and I don’t have to take all the responsibility for being the bright spot around my home. At the sun’s highest point during each day this time of year, it does not quite rise above my treetops. What I am left with though, is the beauty of sun spilling through the trees, making shining jewels of the snow that filters down through the branches.

I’m looking forward to seeing 2009 blown away on the white winds of change and curious about what 2010 has to offer.

October 1, 2009

Memories

Filed under: Happiness, Reflection, Time, nature — Tags: , , — Deborah @ 4:57 am

There’s a hard frost this morning. As the wind blows through the leaves, I can actually hear them clinking against each other. Soon, when the sun comes up and warms them, many will loose their grip and fall to the ground in a rain of gold and orange and red and brown.

Memories

Cold morning. The steam is rising off the creek, creating ghost-like wisps through the cedars.

I wonder about the seemingly substantial, the things in our lives that feel so solid. And then, just like the steam on the creek, the images of something once very real are gone in an instant with something as minor as the shift of the sun one degree. And I am left wondering if I imagined it. I suppose it does not matter if I imagined something as fleeting as the steam rising off the creek or my entire past. The memories are still rich and they sustain me.

At the time, each experience is wonderful, or painful or peaceful or even magical in that one moment when it is present. And then, in the blink of an eye, it becomes a memory, something in the past to hold on to.

Our memories are ultimately all we are, I suppose. Something so simple, so sweet, so painful, or so inviting is really nothing more than a fleeting moment. But in that moment it also becomes a memory we will hold on to forever.

Sometimes I imagine myself being able to craft my future. If I just do this…If I just say that…If I am able to save a certain amount for later…If I invest in this…If I take time each day to plan…

And yet, when I choose to be still, to put all the plans and plots and good intentions on the back burner to simmer, I’m present enough to really experience the things that will create lasting memories. I don’t have to work for them. I don’t have to create rituals to make them happen. They are just there for me. And as my bank of memories grows, my present becomes more luscious. The past and the present become woven. The future? Well, I’ll just wait for it to become the present and I’ll see what memories unfold from that.

“Leftovers in their less visible form are called memories. Stored in the refrigerator of the mind and the cupboard of the heart.” ~Thomas Fuller

“Memory is not so brilliant as hope, but it is more beautiful and a thousand times more true.” ~George Denison Prentice

September 4, 2009

In The Eddy

Filed under: Reflection, Time, nature — Deborah @ 11:06 am

With August, we finally got summer. It was brief. Now, with the onset of September, I’m seeing more of the golden flowers that mark the end of summer. Around my home, there’s a burst of Black-eyed Susan and Goldenrod. And today is the day of the Corn Moon, the full moon in September that in older times marked the time to harvest the corn.

As I fall deeper and deeper into the acknowledgment that summer is waning, I seek with eagerness the solace of a September that will embrace me with a sense of home; that is, that deep and unconditional welcome that rarely comes from any other source but going home. Home does not have to be literal in the sense that it is the house, the dwelling, the town in which one lives or grew up. Home can be, and more often is for me, falling into the embrace of nature, especially during this time of year. There seems to be nothing more motherly, more welcoming, more at home, than nature’s autumn embrace in the North Country. I’m antsy to see what has occurred locked away in the woods around my home when the summer’s heat and biting insects kept me from exploring more deeply.

In The Eddy

I’m in the eddy. I’ve taken a break. I’ve swung out of the current, pointed myself upstream behind a boulder or a fallen log, and allowed myself to breathe. I’ve become quiet so I can hear the world turning and get my directions.

For those of you who don’t paddle, an eddy is the downstream side of an obstruction in the river. It’s a place in the river, because of that obstruction like a log or a boulder, where the water is moving more slowly and in a different direction, in a circular flow as the water backfills into the pocket created behind the obstruction. Eddies are most useful to paddlers as a place to rest, read the river, and make decisions about the next move up or down the river. Paddling from eddy to eddy, slipping into an eddy for a break, gives you the opportunity to assess your next move. Often, when running rapids, I enter and exit a series of eddies as a way to pause and pick my path. The key is in the timing.

With autumn nipping at my heals, the timing is just right. I’m in an eddy of my life as well as a more seasonal eddy. September and I have swung out of the current, taking a break, assessing our next moves. Breathing.

Come on in, the water is just fine.

March 26, 2009

Perspective

Filed under: Humor, Reflection, nature — Tags: , , , , , , , — Deborah @ 7:37 am

Ice Bridge50 degree temperatures feel oh so much different in March than they did in September. It’s the same temperature, just a different month, a different angle, and therefore a different perspective. 

That’s just my experience here in the north. Do those of you who live in more temperate climates tire of hearing those of us in the north go on and on about our weather? We can’t help it. It’s such a big part of our lives. 

Snowbank DogsRight now, with the sun shining like I have not seen it shine in over four months, I’m more alive. The affect feels razor sharp after dreary dark and overcast snowy days for months. Oh, we have had some sun on occasion. It’s just that now, with spring, our sunshine comes with colors. Don’t ask me to explain in any kind of a scientific way. I’m sure there is one. But it’s not until late February or early March that I see those colors in each day’s light. Sunshine in December and January can, on occasion, be bright, but it’s never colorful. 
But now, oh my! There’s still plenty of snow but just look at the colors in the light!

Perspective is greatly affected by the angle in which we view our world. With each new angle, there is a new perspective. During the equinoxes, both spring and fall, when this globe we ride is in balance, I’m usually thrown off kilter because I must move from a perspective I’ve made routine for several months into one that I always know is coming but still surprises me. 

Snow ShadowsThere’s nothing to do really but hang on for the ride. I’ll soon be into a new six-month routine. And then, just when I think I’ve got it down, fall will sneak up behind me I’ll be seeing things differently all over again. 

“In order to keep a true perspective of one’s importance, everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him.”

“Bunny slippers remind me of who I am. You can’t get a swelled head if you wear bunny slippers. You can’t lose your sense  of perspective and start acting like a star or a rich lady if you keep on wearing bunny slippers. Besides, bunny slippers give me confidence because they’re so jaunty. They make a statement; they say, ‘Nothing the world does to me can ever get me so far down that I can’t be silly and frivolous.’ If I died and found myself in Hell, I could endure the place if I had bunny slippers.” ~Dean Koontz

Speaking of bunnies, …

Happy Easter Bunnies

March 25, 2009

Snow Feas

Filed under: Reflection, Resources, nature — Deborah @ 2:38 pm

Snow FleasI’m still enjoying the snow fleas. I expect I’ve got at least a couple more weeks before all the snow melts and I can no longer see those little critters. I’ve learned that they are always there. They are just more noticeable on the snow white background. More info at my squidoo lens, snowfleas

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