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"Go quietly, Carry little."
Poetry, quotations, personal reflections from a lover of the wilderness, a lover of the silence....
Poetry, quotations, personal reflections from a lover of the wilderness, a lover of the silence....
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2009
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January
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- You will be walking some nightin the comfortable d...
- The Earthy Wisdom of Edward Abbey
- The Irreverent Wisdom of Edward Abbey
- Six Things Known
- For the next 1000 years.
- Surface
- Elegy?
- Seeking non-attachment...even from a blog....
- More Good Medicine
- Good Medicine
- The Cave and "Dreaming the Fire."
- The Cave
- Deep Ecology
- Arne Naess: Deep Ecology
- Complex Creatures, Humans....
- Fair Warning
- "a patient willing descent into the grass": A Refl...
- Thank You/"Silence of Need"/More Wendell Berry
- On the days I am lucky...I am silent
- Humility
- Yogi is a Sage
- "To see what is in front of one's nose requires a...
- Moments of Mindfulness
- Be Here Now
- John Francis
- A word about possessions
- Where Father Terrance Lived
- Werner Herzog's Winter Walk from Munich to Paris
- "Throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an ol...
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January
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More About Me
Wisdom?/Humor?/Reality?/Hope.
"More than any time in history mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly." ~Woody Allen
"Things are going to get a lot worse before they get worse." ~Lily Tomlin
"We must face the prospect of changing our basic ways of living. This change will either be made on our own initiative in a planned way, or forced on us with chaos and suffering by the inexorable laws of nature." ~Jimmy Carter
One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am — a reluctant enthusiast... a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards." ~Edward Abbey, from a speech to environmentalists in Missoula, Montana in 1978 and in Colorado, which was published in High Country News under the title "Joy, Shipmates, Joy."
"What I fear most is despair
for the world and us: forever less
of beauty, silence, open air,
gratitude, unbidden happiness,
affection, unegotistical desire
~Wendell Berry, from IX, Sabbaths 1998, in Given
"Things are going to get a lot worse before they get worse." ~Lily Tomlin
"We must face the prospect of changing our basic ways of living. This change will either be made on our own initiative in a planned way, or forced on us with chaos and suffering by the inexorable laws of nature." ~Jimmy Carter
One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am — a reluctant enthusiast... a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards." ~Edward Abbey, from a speech to environmentalists in Missoula, Montana in 1978 and in Colorado, which was published in High Country News under the title "Joy, Shipmates, Joy."
"What I fear most is despair
for the world and us: forever less
of beauty, silence, open air,
gratitude, unbidden happiness,
affection, unegotistical desire
~Wendell Berry, from IX, Sabbaths 1998, in Given
Followers
A keel-less canoe on flat water? Those are great in rocky Ozark streams, but I'd think you'd want a keel in water without a current.
ReplyDeletePaul,
ReplyDeleteTrust me, the canoe does just fine, and in fact, you'll almost never see a canoe with a keel in this "canoe counrty." I'm not sure that I can recall having seen one, in fact. For one thing, your keel would probably hit a lot of rocks. In plenty of places the water is actually shallower than it would appear in the photos and rocks can be vary near the surface. The Winonah canoes that I paddle are fast, strong, and navigable up the wazoo. Believe it or not they are actually perfectly made for these waters.
Peace
Absolutely beautiful pictures! It warms me up just looking at them.
ReplyDeleteOhhhhh.....
ReplyDeleteNorthwoods Guy,
ReplyDeleteWould you believe you actually crossed my mind for a second or two as I posted these pics. Welcome to the blog! I've been meaning to either e-mail you or make a comment on your blog since you became a "follower" of this blog a week ago or so.
Looking at your blog I know you would understand and appreciate these pics more than many.... You've been there and you know the magic spell....
Peace and I hope to correspond more.
Barry,
ReplyDeleteDid that just scratch and iitch?
:)
I do enjoy the summer and open water. Your photos set me to dreaming of open waters...
ReplyDeleteI've lived down here since the summer of '97 and finally we are getting a bit of real winter in a sustained fashion. I have been homesick for an Alaskan Interior winter since I left Alaska, but over in the Arrowhead where I work in the winter I get the taste of winter that I have always missed over here in the Lake Superior-moderated Keweenaw. In the BWCA in the winter time one is able to avoid bugs, crowds of people, and user fees. Though I know you can go to many corners and not see many people during the shoulder seasons, the winter allows for pure solitude, which is a main reason I go to the wilderness.
Northland,
ReplyDeleteI'll say a hearty YES! to what you write here. To go to the BWCA eight now, of course, means going by ski, dogsled, or snowshoe. I'm less proficient at these than with a canoe and paddle, and the canoe is my "first love" so to speak.... BUT, the day is coming.... :)
I've no doubt that the increased solitude is exquisite.
I welcome you to the blog also. I've had a look over at your blog and I think we have very much in common. I'll be checking in for a closer look as I have a chance.
Glad to have connected here in the blogosphere. Peace
I love the rugged beauty of the BWCA. Your pictures of open water are indeed good medicine this time of year.
ReplyDeleteI understand what you mean about the cultural advantages of living in the city. It can feel very isolated, living near the middle of nowhere. :)
Deb,
ReplyDeleteThat said, I know you don't miss the city. ;)
Thanks again for being here, my country "neighbor."
Oh, and I just realized Paul Lamb is a blogging friend of mine, who goes by another name on another blog. ;)
ReplyDeleteDeb,
ReplyDeleteI did not know that....
FW,
ReplyDeleteThe Boundary Waters are on my bucket list. Looks heavenly. Great pics...
M
Molly,
ReplyDeleteGreat! Keep me posted on that. :)
Wow beautiful images and I too adore nature and find it to be so spiritual. These spots are like temples to me.
ReplyDeleteJames,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the visit and the comments, both on this post as well as the previous one. I have been following and enjoying your blog writings for several months.
I think I understand what you mean about "these spots are like temples to me. If I have any temple (I'm not one who is much on using any religious language anymore), then nature is most certainly it....
Peace to you. I hope to see you here again.