Back to Top

Taking some time for black water and silence

It’s so beautiful here today it makes my heart ache.
045 copy
I’ve been somewhat absent in my own life lately. It’s true! A week of setting myself on autopilot because things have to get done has finally taken a toll and today, when I drove C to her classes on her mountain-top university, I just kept driving further and further into the mountain.

I came to the little parking lot I was looking for, parked up and practically sprinted into the forest.

036 copy
I chose the trail to the lake but the sound of my footsteps on the crunchy gravely trail was bothering me so as soon as I could I left the pebbly path for the soft, mossy paths that skirts the lake. You’ll laugh but I even walked with my arms spread out somewhat so I wouldn’t hear that rustling noise that my down jacket makes. 🙂

061 copy
I didn’t expect many people to be on the trails on a drizzly day like today and good thing too because I had it in mind to be completely alone for a few hours. The moss dripped, the ground felt spongy and the whole forest glistened and twinkled with that spring freshness of temperate rain forests. There is an old Czech children’s book in my library. It was smuggled out of Prague along with me. It is a book of poetry and watercolours and the title translates as “slippers of moss”. I felt so small and soft in the forest beside the lake. I was wearing slippers of moss.

055 copy
At one of the shore access points I snuck up on some little thing and scared it half to death. Suddenly there was a frantic splash and a trail of bubbles leading away from me and disappearing among the dripping branches. To tell the truth, I think we scared each other.

076 copy
I sat by the lake for a long time watching a fisherman on the other side. Then a ripple. A small flock of mergansers landed close by and began arrowing their way towards me. There is nothing common about common mergansers. They are so beautiful to me with their rusty, crested heads and ghostly bodies.

032 copy
I didn’t dare breathe. I just sat still and quiet, blending into the forest and watching.

086 copy
They arrowed around dipping and surfacing until we all heard the sound of people talking and walking on the crunchy path. They rippled the blackness as they ran/flew away.

071 copy
I waited for a few minutes and, as soon as I was satisfied that my loud lake walkers were a good way away, I hiked out of the forest and back to the parking lot and got on with the rest of the day.

I feel so much better. Taking this time was so important and so necessary for my little wild heart. Sometimes I find myself wishing I could take you with me and feel the peace I feel. I hope you have a chance to take time for yourselves and rest your wild little hearts in your own special way. Then you can tell me about it. 🙂

051 copy

Comments: 12

  • March 7, 2013
    reply

    you brought a sense of beauty and quietude to this reader!

  • March 7, 2013
    reply

    You took us with you in the only ways you could-photography and writing. The whole post is beautiful and that last picture is the perfect ending.

  • March 7, 2013
    reply

    blimey , reading this i got to the slippers bit , and took a really nice deep breath ,thank you , your my meditation for today .xx

  • March 8, 2013
    reply

    quel bel endroit!
    merci pour ces très belles photos
    belle journée à vous
    bises
    Sophie

  • March 8, 2013
    reply

    How lovely and peaceful…

  • March 8, 2013
    reply

    Hi Veronica!! You really took me back to my days of living in the mist and the redwoods (Arcata, CA). Loved that misty feeling, and feeling alone in the quiet (except for the drops from the redwoods every now and then) Used to go running on the old logging roads–really loved that! And common mergansers are definitely not common! Loved that line, you were so lucky to see a flock like that–I never have. Thank you so much for sharing all this beauty and walking in moss slippers (makes me feel poetic…) My wild little heart now finds peace in sunshine on the ocean water, or snorkeling with the brilliantly colored fish and coral. 🙂 (and sometimes just curled up on an oversized loveseat in the sunshine, when no one else is home 😉

Post a Reply to Becca cancel reply