Taking some time for black water and silence

It’s so beautiful here today it makes my heart ache.

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.

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. 🙂

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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. 🙂