January 31

1854 HDT
"The winter, cold and bound out as it is, is thrown to us like a bone to a famishing dog, and we are expected to get the marrow out of it....Some desert the field and go into winter quarters in the city.

But the winter was not given to us for no purpose. We are tasked to find out and appropriate all the nutriment it yields. If it is a cold and hard season, its fruit, no doubt, is more concentrated and nutty.

The seasons were not made in vain. Because the fruits of the earth are already ripe, we are not to suppose that there is no fruit left for winter to ripen. It is for man the seasons and all their fruits exist. The winter was made to concentrate and harden and mature the kernel of his brain, to give tone and firmness and consistency to his thought. Then is the greatest harvest of the year, the harvest of thought."

This is one of my favorite entries into his journal. I love the power of his convictions in this. the beginning is so strong and definite and carries it's weight all the way through. I have read this one over and over. It really affects me and has new meaning with each reading.


- Posted using BlogPress

a walk in the winter woods

"the snow falls on no two trees alike, but the forms it assumes are as various as those of the twigs and leaves which receive it." Henry David Thoreau 1841

Walked the pond path with short visit to the cabin site. I must say quite a workout! My legs were jelly at the end. I really must invest in snowshoes. Beautiful walk in the wintery woods. Walking up to the cabin site I imagined Louisa, Bronson or Ellery walking up that snowy bank to visit him.

The rock cairn completely covered; the sign up to the base.

Concord Center

On a clear beautiful winter day! As I was leaving the inn after watching the Flyers beat the Hawks!! That is always a good day.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Snowy Scenes

Middlesex County, Massachusetts. January 18, 2011



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wintery Walk

They predicted 1-3" from this storm. It's not even mid-day and I have cleared more than 3" off my car. The roads haven't been plowed and walking is tricky.

I ended my walk earlier than I wanted as the people with 4- wheel drive seem to think they are invincible. Usually there is very little traffic on this road.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

January 15

In 1857 Thoreau writes:

We are ordinarily in a state of desperation; such is our life ... But let us hear a strain of music, we are at once advertised of a life no man has told us of. Suppose I try to describe faithfully the prospect which a strain of music exhibits to me. The field of my life becomes a boundless plain, glorious to tread, with no death or disappointment at the end of it. All meanness and trivialness disappear. I become adequate to any deed. No particulars survive this expansion; persons do not survive it. In the light of this strain there is no thou nor I. We are actually above ourselves.

I wonder what strain he was listening to?

One morning I was feeling low and the song "Bare Necessities" starting playing on the radio. Such a silly song but it really has a lot to say. I ended up laughing when it was over and wondered what I was so bothered about earlier. I suppose that is what Thoreau is getting at.

I recently listened to the audio book "Life" by Keith Richards, very entertaining and informative. However, whenever I listen to the Rolling Stones now the songs have completely new meaning. Learning the history of their lives and how songs came to be gives them this entirely new meaning and enjoyment. A bit like hearing them for the first time.

I digress, back to Thoreau's journal entry, I love the last part "we are above ourselves." That is what really touched me reading this this morning.

Snowy Rail Reflections

Sun setting over the Philadelphia suburbs. What a striking sunset. Was regretting not having my SLR.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A Day In The Life

My opinion of healthcare in this country has plummeted! Jim had cataract surgery. At first they blamed the botched surgery on him for sniffing while they performed the operation. Then it became the shape of his eye. After surgery they didn't explain what was happening, and not being a patient person...well that is an entirely different story. So now the story is he is a complicated case. I don't need a degree to tell you that.

Days running here and there for I don't know how many different prescriptions. With a fun little episode of the pharmacy giving him the wrong prescription, then the insurance company won't authorize the right one because the wrong one was dispensed. Get where I'm going with this now? The right hand has no clue what the left is doing. Multiple trips back and forth testing his eye pressure, which always seems to be up. I feel as if I live at Moore Eye Institute, and they aren't the friendliest bunch of people. The receptionists are as icy as the office.

And now I sit in their freezing cold office for three hours waiting! Listening to game shows on the TV that I would love to blow up. The stimulating topics being discussed: How to eat to lose weight, should priests  marry, and other mindlessness. Why are people interested in this drivel??

On the upside I have read a bit about the life of John Muir. Ironically I am sitting in an eye institute reading about Muir's eye injury.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

On seeing God

It is better to see God in everything than to try and figure it out.

- Neem Karoli Baba

Concord River

The Concord River in early January. The river was so stunning I had to stop and admire it. Sometimes nature is just to inspiring to ignore and begs for you stop and take a moment to marvel at it's beauty. 

I've heard people say winter depresses them. When the snow is flung to the side of road collecting dirt and pollution, maybe. I look at the frozen landscape and am in awe of the changes in nature. The trees are barren, the air is cold, and ice forms on the river banks. In a few months buds will form and the lush greenery will return. The cycle of nature impresses me. I stand in awe of it everyday.

I want to spend everyday in nature. My greatest friend. 

New Year's Day 2011

1.1.11
Went to Walden for the new year day hike. Attempted to take pictures of living historian Richard Smith, but he proved to be too busy greeting "souls" at the replica house at Walden Pond State Reservation. Smith often portrays Henry David Thoreau, transcendentalist, writer, poet, environmentalist, and of course-- lover of nature!

The event was very successful, although not conducive to one who wants to enjoy the solitude of nature. The temperature an unusual balmy 50 degrees more than likely had a great deal to do with the popularity of the event. I did manage a few shots of the pond with amazing ice floes. Young children were standing and jumping on the ice testing it's strength. A group of "polar bear" participants broke through the ice and jumped into the icy Walden waters. Busy, crowded day, but any day at Walden Pond is a great day to me.

A young woman gave me the sweetest compliment as I waited for the hike to begin, she approached me and said "you are just gorgeous!" At first it shocked and surprised me, because I don't see myself as one anyone notices, let alone to the point I would affect them in such a way. After I recovered I told her it was the sweetest thing anyone ever said to me. It's really something when someone takes the time to compliment others.