Late October is the time of year I enjoy the most in the woods that surround our cabin, the fallen leaves crackling and swishing about my feet, the rustling of mice, squirrels and chipmunks much more evident now as they scurry about searching for fallen nuts or seeds to sustain them through the coming winter. The air smells wonderfully fresh and sweet, mixed with the distinct perfume of peaty earth and leaf mold and all things natural. I find a rock to sit on where the sun is warming the smooth surface or mossy covering, watching Muffy sniffing at scents only she can detect. I listen to the muted sounds about me, thinking of the summer past and the coming of another season, of another year gone by and how little really changes in the physical world around us. I touch the rough surface of this huge granite boulder and try to imagine the ages that have passed as it lay here, long before man stood upright and yet longer still. Here on this slope overlooking two great countries, this great stone was hidden from view until loggers from the last century finally arrived to fell the trees shading it. Here it was mute witness to the thousands of maples and spruce trees that had grown before, lived their short lives and returned to the earth to nurture the next generation. What stories could it tell of the climate and physical changes that have taken place on this very spot I sit over the past million years....
Peace, and love...gws
