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,
THE HUMAN PSYCHE was never designed to confront a global crisis before the first cup of coffee in the morning. To parry threats to family, home and nation over lunch, and to try to fall asleep after scrolling through an endless parade of corruption, cruelty, chaos, and stupidity. We still need to walk a forest path. To sit by a
BEDROCK: We think it’s complicated, this business of being human. But it’s not, really. At a bedrock level, it’s simple. Not easy, but simple. Be kind. Be honest. Be brave. That’s it. That’ll get a person through most situations, with a fairly decent result. We can make it more complicated, certainly, and we generally do. And surely, a person can
‘A MAN’S GOT TO believe in something. I believe I’ll go fishing.’ So says the inscription on one of my coffee mugs. It’s a good inscription. So today my young friend Kent dropped by to take me fishing. I told him this is probably the first time in 5 decades someone has taken ME fishing! But this was Muskie fishing—a
ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL DAY OF ROAD SCHOLAR explorations in southeast Minnesota’s Bluff Country. Almost 90 species of birds in two days! Bitterns, trumpeter swans, Sandhill cranes, woodcock, barred owls, peregrine falcons, towhees, buntings, redstarts, warblers, rose breasted grosbeaks, and so many more. Grand weather, beautiful wildflowers, the pleasure of hiking along trout streams, up limestone hills, and through the Big Woods.
THERE IS A WAY of looking at the world around us that is so old and honored, so wise, so self-evidently true, that it is almost completely at odds with the way we normally live our lives. It is a way in which we see and acknowledge Nature as being inhabited by teachers and teachings, and more than that–as a
IF ONE OWNS or inhabits a piney woods, it is incumbent upon you to go for walks in the woods. It is a sin, in fact, if you do not. At least according to the Church O’ The Pines rulebook. And when you go for a walk it is only good form to take a walking stick. An old one.
AT THE CHURCH O THE PINES, it is a fine morning. Old Man River ripples and sparkles. The blue jays—not the most melodious members of the choir—nevertheless are singing their parts with gusto. The deer have been by for their morning snack in Fellowship Hall. And the chickadees, as always, chat and gossip sweetly. The Keeper of the thermostat has
MAN’S INHUMANITY to man is a story as old as humanity itself. One of the places we go to find hope, respite and relief is Church. Yet we humans ostracize each other, stab and shoot each other, cut off one another’s heads and bomb one another, because of which church we attend. Here by the Mississippi River on the edge
WONDERFUL NEWS! On September 8, I posted the story of finding a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk stunned and injured on a sidewalk outside the Stay Fit Gym here in Sartell. Standing guard and asking folks to give the bird a wide berth, I called my friend Elaine Thrune, a wildlife rehabilitator. Elaine arrived quickly and with a bit of subterfuge and