AS KATHY AND I sat on the Pine Point cabin deck, sipping morning coffee and tea, listening to bluejays screaming and pileated woodpeckers cackling and chickadees singing, and humming birds humming and mourning doves cooing and bald eagles screeching, it suddenly occurred to us. How many birds do we have here, anyway? Here in our 12 acre piney woods by
IT IS ONE of my favorite places on the island—the old outhouse—also known as the Church Of Peace. After 30 years here, Kathy intimated that was long enough to wait for a flush toilet and a shower. And so she dreamed and planned and outlined and caused to be built a new guest cottage. Which has both—shower and toilet. But
ONE OF THE GREAT advantages of living in the forest is that we are surrounded by real things. Nothing phony, no lies, no ‘misinformation.’ This seems helpful in keeping one’s bearings, in maintaining a stranglehold on truth, and in nurturing a sense of perspective. Among the ‘real things’ that help in this endeavor are the real creatures that live here,
WE KNEW about the old (1932) cabin in the woods for 17 years. To ever own it and live there seemed about as likely as a trip to the far side of the moon. It was empty most of the time. I used to come out to ‘explore,’ to study birds and trees and plants. Then, somehow, the impossible happened,
IT IS APRIL at the cabin-in-the-woods. ‘Good Friday.’ But it looks a bit more like January. Still, all is beautiful. The soundscape is alive with the yodeling of loons from the river (no, they don’t stay through the summer, so it is a joy to hear them!) Tundra swans’ high voices echo through the sky as they fly overhead, arrowing
HERE AT THE CHURCH O’ THE PINES, a late winter storm has blown through. Snow covers the cabin and the boughs of the trees. More strong winds are predicted, and we hope that our eagle-nest tree, and all the rest, hold fast. In our (almost) weekly reports from our woodsy sanctuary, we often tell of the comings and goings, the
HERE AT THE CABIN-IN-THE-WOODS, even in difficult times, good things abide. And it is part of our job, living in balance, to notice them, remember them, appreciate them. That is true wherever we find ourselves. From the old cabin in the piney woods, here are a few…
THE LONG, WINDING lane to the old Cabin-in-the-Woods is a bit… frosty. One of the great advantages of living in the forest is that you are surrounded by life. And death. And inspiration. And hardship. And the glory of light and things growing toward the light. And darkness and the visible stars and phases of the moon. Along with all
THE RESULTS OF last night’s snow and ice storm at the Church O’ The Pines. Some huge limbs fell on the roof and the deck, shaking the whole cabin, and causing the inhabitants a fair amount of anxiety. No heat or power for nine hours. Cold kitties. Now, as the northwest wind blows and the temps drop there are still
A FEATHER, A RESET: I found a feather outside the cabin door today. Pretty, isn’t it? A downy woodpecker left it for me to discover. To notice. I like noticing feathers. And plants. And birdsongs. I like paying attention to the clouds, and predicting what the weather is going to do. I like studying music and art and history. And