Goldens in Winter

On being astonished

Mary Oliver says " Work is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished. " This fall I have spent more time in the woods than ever. Every day I am , as she says , astonished by something. The tiniest bird camouflaged in a dark rotting tree. The thinnest layer of ice on the pond looked more like a topographical study than frozen water. A cluster of pine cones that Andy Goldsworthy might have arranged around a tree stump yet I know it was nature's random version of perfection. I am learning to love the bare branches of November. I can see more and the sun can easily find me now.

Walk with the dreamers....

" Walk with the dreamers, 

the believers, 

the courageous,

the cheerful,

the planners,

the doers,

the successful people

with their heads in the clouds 

and their feet on the ground.

Let their spirit ignite a fire within you

to leave this world

better than when you found it.

by Wilfred Peterson

A symphony of love and nature

I cannot let the sheer magic of last night with my beloved boys pass without trying to write about it while it is still fresh in my mind. We went out on the boat around 5 pm. There was no wind and the water looked like a vast lake; an ocean of pearly glass.

Alex has the fishing bug so we brought the yard sale pole and some fancy new sand eel lures. The day was a Cape kind of day, overcast with peeks of sun; uninspiring light wise but peaceful after an unusually hot and sunny summer.

We headed to Stage Harbor Lighthouse where we fished awhile, casting and watching the boats head home at days end. Then we headed to the South Way. We cut the engine and drifted; listening to the sounds of the gulls, terns and plovers on the inside of the outer bar and the roaring waves crashing on the oceanside. We were totally alone on that great expanse of calm ocean.

Later as we headed back another unexpected show; a sunset that unfolded quietly with a thin streak of color on the horizon. Nature played a symphony and we sat mesmerized; yellow to orange to a purple gold. We quietly rowed into shore. The shared love we felt for this place and each other transcended words.