I felt a bit like Mary Oliver today when Jane and I were hiking in Meech Creek Valley exploring trails neither of us had been on before. These were unofficial trails so not travelled heavily (but heavily enough to discern) and no trail numbers. “There is only one question,” says Mary Oliver: “how to love this world.” And, “Pay attention to its simple gifts”. We paid attention to a lot. For example, how fast Meech Creek had opened up – less than a week ago it had been ice covered. Jane noticed the sounds of birds such as the Blue Jay and Chickadees. (There were others but I can’t remember their names.) We both were enthralled by water either trickling slowly or gushing under ice patterns in the creeks. We felt captured by these patterns. And, when we wondered if we were returning on the right path, we’d take time to check if the trail had the pattern of our ice crampons. There was just so much detail of spring’s emergence for us to lose ourselves in.
Here are a few photos of spring.
