annie dillard changed my life.
i read pilgrim at tinker creek, about the tree with the lights in it,
then perhaps the next year, i saw it. too.
(i was 23, maybe.)
today i saw it. them. thousands. tens of thousands.
once again.
rime ice or hoarfrost or snow coating the trees.
all along tooley pond road. from to degrasse to cranberry lake.
deep woods.
in the thin december light, before it changed and flattened.
we traveled the snowy road (thankfully plowed this year) to the deep woods.
wild forest.
saw a few tracks, nothing much moving, a raven is all.
but crystal in such quantity
i was visually exhausted.
excess of holy day presented by mother nature.
the sound was amazing, wild water in the very cold.
a portent. a blessing.
omg, too beautiful! i love knowing you were out there. i am reading dillard now and will continue after this book. i thought i wanted to read something else but realized that THIS was what i needed right now. big love to you! i have been thinking a lot these days about the north country and yonder.
ReplyDeletei shivered as i read this - not with cold but visual emotion. beautiful. k.
ReplyDeletethere is something exquisite and very very harsh about this place in winter. i know i am lucky to be here.
ReplyDeleteso much lovely icing sugar...just drizzling and c c c cold wind here - so much for the "sunny south" and/or global warming
ReplyDeleteexquisite
ReplyDeleteAhhhh....
ReplyDeletemy eyes were absolutely exhausted. tooley pond road is the cure.
ReplyDeleteCranberry Lake? My grandmother lived in Cranberry Lake for as long as I can remember. She passed away about 18 years ago. I have fond memories...but almost no one I've ever known knows where that is. A tangent, I know, but thanks for bringing fond memories to mind. Hope you're feeling better soon :).
ReplyDeletewow-i lived in star lake for almost five years, and now live about 30 miles away. so we probably were "neighbors" for a while, anyway. i love bear mountain and the wild forest around c.l. do you remember big bear's indian trading post?
ReplyDeleteHi Velma - I am slowly catching up here...I'd like to know if Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is the book to start with or do you think others are great as well? She looks interesting. Fabulous sights and a great way to describe them.
ReplyDeleteRe: Cranberry Lake and surrounds...I have to admit, I know very little outside of her house and what my dad and grandmother would talk about: going "up to Tupper", stories of the lodge where she worked for years (maybe the Evergreen hotel? I think it burned down). Her umpteenth husband (ok, just the fourth or something!) worked as a hunters' guide. Skinny as a rail inspite of my gmom's cooking. And I still think of the syrup she would bring us each year. Fun to remember...
ReplyDelete