August 10th, 2009
Stand in the Place Where You Are When
Kenton decided to embark on a wilderness excursion this past week, I
seized the time apart to do some deep cleaning of our house. A few
simple projects (like re-insulating our upstairs crawl-spaces and going
through old boxes of equally old paperwork) turned into more monumental
endeavors than I expected, and before I knew it, I was spending hours each day
inside.Not feeling right about squandering such lovely summer days trapped in either my attic or my basement, I decided to visit Kenton in the outside world for a breath of reality. On my way up the large hill to his encampment, I
paused for a moment. I suppose I could fib and say
that my stop was sheerly for the purpose of admiring the landscape, but
the truth of the matter is that the hill was extremely steep and I was out
of breath. Bent over and panting, my eye was caught by the most unusual of colors-- a milky, ghostly white glowing eerily against the green and brown of the underbrush. Peering closer I noticed two delicate and freshly born Ghost Pipes (otherwise called Indian Pipes). They were stunning specimens, all translucent fragility and innocent tenacity.
I was struck then by how much we can see in the world from a single fixed spot. How many mysteries there are for our eyes to discover, how many beauties waiting to please our senses. I invite you to try this remarkable exercise for yourself. The fun thing about it is that you can do it anywhere, inside or outside. Stand in the place where you are and slowly rotate, letting your eyes search high and low, near and far. Allow them to go soft for a bit and to take in only color and texture. Focus them sharply and notice the details. You will be delighted with what your sleuthing uncovers!
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Standing
for a moment in that spot, I stretched in preparation for the rest of the
climb and happened to glance overhead. My eyes
were again rewarded with a spectacular sight-- the silhouettes of
oak leaves against a steely sky. They were nature's take on the
classic theme of black and white.
Feeling
more and more refreshed, I began to turn a slow circle in place, studying
my surroundings as though I were Watson trying to beat Holmes to the first
clue. Everywhere I looked some delight awaited my eyes-- an
unearthly green against the black of bark, the twining curls of grapevine
tendrils.