The mountains are calling ..

Since my days as a graduate student in the United States of America, I have nourished a hope of visiting the Great Smoky mountains. Fifteen years have passed and the time has now come! 

 

Every window shows us a glimpse of God ..

Having just read John Muir's mountain book "My First Summer in the Sierra" the following lines speak to me as the excitement builds everyday.. "We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us."  ... 

"Oh, these vast, calm, measureless mountain days, inciting at once to work and rest! Days in whose light everything seems equally divine, opening a thousand windows to show us God. Nevermore, however weary, should one faint by the way who gains the blessings of one mountain day; whatever his fate, long life, short life, stormy or calm, he is rich forever.

The mountains are calling and I must go - John Muir

A piece of heaven ..

A piece of heaven right here in my neighbourhood..

I now have a new appreciation for where I live. On a recent trip to the remote areas of Quebec I was expecting to see some wildlife and probably some birds. While the landscape was stunning and the greenery was refreshing, I was a bit disappointed that the only bird I saw in a few days was a woodpecker pecking on the dead tree stumps around the campfire in the backyard of our cottage. 

In contrast, an a regular morning walk close to my home in the suburbs, I will see the gulls, mourning doves, chickadees, American goldfinches, swallows, robins, crows, swarms of eastern starlings, sparrows, red cardinals, blue herons, mallard ducks, Canadian geese and occasionally the cedar waxwing, woodpeckers, killdeers, redwinged blackbirds, terns or even the extremely shy belted kingfisher all within the span of an hour...oh and did I miss the mute swans and the cormorants!!

Sadly urban developments in the area have destroyed the habitats of the birds forcing them all into this small wild area ..but adding much to my visual delight! I repeat what Amir Khusrau said in Farsi ..Agar firdaus war-rue zaminast hamin asto, hamin asto, hamin asto!

If there’s a heaven anywhere on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here....

Grateful for the company of the children..

The long days of summer have been rich and satisfying. With the children idylling at home this summer, I have been taking them to different places every evening. Simple things like exploring parks and trails in the area or walks along the lake or just simply reading a book together.

They are willing accomplices in whatever plan I make and share my enthusiasm for the little things. At seven and five years of age they are quite independent and I see their individual personalities developing. I realize how in some ways they are like us but yet so very different ...

It reminds of Kahlil Gibran's poem and it makes me grateful for their company..


Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you....

An infinity of dandelions mock human folly..

Dandelion seeds ready to takeoff

Summer is coming to an end and in every bit of free earth along the road sides and open lands one can see an infinity of dandelions standing ready to ensure its race continues to eternity. The open spaces look like endless fields of fluffy puff balls. Every seed is perfectly crafted with its very own parachute to be carried as far away as the wind will take it.

Yet, next spring and summer humans in all neighborhoods will toil in vain as they wage a war against the dandelions trying to rid their lawns and backyards of them. If we have witnessed even once this field of dandelion puff balls and have an inkling of the might of the wind, we would stop this foolish activity once and for all!!

Probably we are so closed within our narrow walls that we haven't stepped outside and looked around to see the things happening around us. When will we learn that.. "Mother nature always has the last laugh.."?

The irrestible call of dawn..

The desire to witness every dawn in the summer gets me out of bed early. I quietly slip out of the house and head to the woods. I know all of gods creatures are awake and ready to welcome the rising sun. The sweet scent of the pines and the golden light of dawn excite every living thing.

Today, the blue heron flew low above me headed for the nearby swamp for its early morning catch of fish. The small and big cottontail rabbits were all out to taste the fresh dew drop sprinkled grass. I could hear the conference of the birds in the trees before they all fly out in various directions, the dee-dee of the chickadees and the persistent calling of one red cardinal until I pulled out my phone and took a picture of this little fellow..

“Let every dawn of morning be to you as the beginning of life, and every setting sun be to you as its close.”  - John Ruskin