The
season of the mind ..
Cold
out?
It's
all in your head!
You
see, if you look at the forecast or the thermometer you would not go
out until Spring.
But
if you bundle up in layers, add an extra pair of socks and your
warmest gloves it can be invigorating!
Yesterday
the 'mercury' dipped to -17c and the windchill took that down to
-27c.
Was
I home by the fire ?
No
I was out with other like-minded friends wandering through Rockwood
Conservation Area admittedly staying in the tree shrouded hollows
away from the wind, but out non-the-less.
What
an invigorating morning!
We
wandered together and apart for several hours marveling at Winters
handiwork and then on the Ridge Trail Patrick spotted a shape in a
tree .. “is that an owl'?
Then
it took off, yes an owl!
What
a treat!
You
see only moments before we had been discussing the Great Horned Owl
that Doug had heard recently nr Tobermory and there he was!
People
think that the woods are full of wildlife but to see an owl is
special.
Actually
to see anything other than a squirrel or a or a chickadee is always
special!
Often
heard but not always visible the creatures of the great outdoors
chatter back and forth in a tongue we cannot understand but it is a
joy to listen in..
“What
nutriment can I extract from these bare twigs? Starvation stares me
in the face. "Nay, nay," said a nuthatch, making its way,
head downward, about a bare hickory close by, "The nearer the
bone, the sweeter the meat.... If at any time the weather is too
bleak and cold for you, keep the sunny side of the trunk, for a
wholesome and inspiring warmth is there, such as the summer never
afforded...." "Hear! hear!" screamed the jay from a
neighboring tree, where I had heard a tittering for some time,
"winter has a concentrated and nutty kernel, if you know where
to look for it."... [A] red squirrel... came running down a
slanting bough, and as he stopped twirling a nut, called out rather
impudently, "Look here! just get a snug-fitting fur coat and a
pair of fur gloves like mine, and you may laugh at a northeast
storm."” ~Henry David Thoreau, Nov. 8, 1858
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