Tears

April 28 2008
'Day of Mourning' As keeper of wild places I realize there are very many places that one can call wild. I would like to limit myself to places in Nature where there is none or almost no human footprint. This morning though I came upon a 'wild' place in my mind; Yesterday I spend a few hours roaming around swamps, which are still somewhat frozen and therefor accessible, but already very wet. Laying in bed this morning, on the radio they talked about 'day of mourning'. They played the Stones with 'Don't make a grown man cry. And somehow that song merged with the wetland, (the water being tears.) becoming too swampy, too wet for me to continue. What was that? Does anybody else has those semi awake experiences?

Once up, the day became warm and quite sunny. Better check those Birch again, if the sap is running. A neighbor came along and sharing my trails is always a joy. And it makes me see things with different eyes again. Amazed at how the moose trail is so well defined, yes there are logs to step over and narrow sections, here the ground cover is mainly kinnickenick, but the trail is well trotten dirt. My companion marvels over all the little bits of green popping out of the ground, and we both touch the beautiful bark of the Birch. And smell the different smells, of grass and dry leaves... I know! We have had long frozen winter, all smells are new.
No sap yet by the way. I have to ask an expert someday.

Ah, and then in the evening our first real rain shower!, duration maybe 2 minutes. No matter how short it was the world is beautiful afterwards, and I walk to Moose skull lake, The ice is sea green, I still am able to cross it.
North of it is yet another wetland, I'll try to describe it.
Still on the lake two rocks poke out of the ice, one blackish, one pink! Around them the ice is candling. From the pink one I jump on land, first there is, say fifty metres of land and ice, then one comes into a stand of dead trees. Then into a delightful landscape of little hillocks, pools, stands of trees on higher ground,
tiny meadows. And Bear berries from last fall, they actually taste OK.