A small group of us met under the trees at the Arboretum this morning to celebrate the return of the sun and welcome the season of winter. We were led in a lovely Four Directions Movement welcoming the gifts of the new season and and we shared poetry. It was grounding to be reminded of our […]
A lovely day for our first snow shoe outing into Brown Lake. What we love about this destination is that its so peaceful here: we never see anyone else. It was our first cold outing this season and the weather forecast was rather daunting so left to our own its likely neither of us would […]
It might be because my first experiences of the Gatineau Park were skiing as a young child with the family. Or maybe its simply because it feels such a long time since the last ski season. Regardless, there is something so special about the first ski. I realized this week that it feels like ‘coming home’ […]
Just as we came around the corner, the sun came out creating stunning shadow patterns on the snow. So there we were, three women standing by the side of this swamp taking in all its beauty and discussing things like: Is this a swamp or a pond? And what is a bog? And what about a fenn? And […]
My favourite beaver dam and creek in the early morning light. So, what is there to do at 7:00am to fill in the time till I was to return and pick Carolyn up at noon? Driving up to Old Chelsea I could see the red sun in my rear view mirror rising above the horizon […]
Hiking along Meech Lake on December 3rd, I found myself experiencing my surroundings in a very unlikely manner for an early December day. I was mesmerized by the flowing water and could have stood there for hours losing myself in it. And then later when I was sitting on the rocky point at the foot of the […]
Checking out Pink Lake on this first day of December we were not terribly surprised to find a dull drab landscape. The lack of sun emphasized the drabness. So we were delighted to discover this gloriously vibrant red dogwood along the shore of the lake contributing its colour and lifting our spirits.
It’s in November that I have a real sense of the seasons meeting each other – fall’s presence lingers as winter arrives and attempts to cover it all. A mutual seasonal accommodation; water still flowing, leaves still visible and yet beautiful snow clinging to the tree branches. But the forest is quieter than in the […]
This is what I call the ‘bare bones’ season, the time after the leaves have fallen and the landscape is visible in all its raw beauty. I find my eye seeing things I otherwise hadn’t noticed, such as the bright green moss on this long ago fallen log. And then, I notice even more as I […]
When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the […]
