Jewels to Potato Chips

It is a cold and rainy afternoon here at Riverwood, so it is time to take to my laptop and write for a while. AC is out stacking wood in the shed, but my back won’t allow me to even think about helping him with that activity, so it is writing in the warm cozy farmhouse for me. Mmmm, what a treat. I will make a steaming mug of creamy hot chocolate for him when he comes in for a break. That should warm him up after his labours.

We went out for a walk in the rain this morning along the Riverside Ramble Trail. Wow, so much has changed since last week. The path has lost that velvet jewelled carpet of colours and now is covered in a layer of what looks and sounds like potato chips. All shades of brown, and nothing but crunch, crunch, crunch under our feet! Ahh, each has its own beauty. The emerald green moss gnomes are still standing at attention at the base of many trees and their brilliant coats haven’t lost any colour, but all the other forest inhabitant’s coats have blended into muted browns. Still beautiful, but different.

As we walked along the trail I looked at the thick growth all around me and realized once again how easy it would be to get lost in these woods if we didn’t have this new path to follow. Two years ago we went into town for groceries and noticed posters tacked up in the store, of a man who had been missing in the woods for over a week. Shortly after his arrival at his cottage he went out for a walk in the backwoods and never came back. He had been going for walks in the woods behind his cottage for years, but it is so easy to lose your way up here.

Last year AC went for a walk in the dense woods on the other side of the road, and got completely turned around in what he thought was very familiar territory to him. Luckily he had the GPS with him and when he realised it was taking him longer than it should to reach the farmhouse, he turned on the GPS and discovered that he was walking away from the farm and not toward it. He thought for sure he was walking in the right direction, but instead, was going deeper and deeper into the woods. It was raining cats and dogs and I was just about ready to call out the troops to go looking for him when he walked out of the woods, soaking wet but ok. What a relief to see his bedraggled form walking toward me that day. He never goes walking now without the GPS and extra batteries tucked in his pocket just in case.

I hope you have some navigational device to help you sort out the thick woods of your daily life and it points you in the right direction when you are lost or floundering. Maybe it is poetry or music or exercise or writing or…..whatever. Take it out of your pocket, turn it on and follow your heart. It is easy to lose your way in the world today, so take time to stop and think about where you are, where you want to be and then set a course for your own North Star.

Happy trails to you and don’t forget to Pay Attention along the way.