Life on the Lake: Part 2

                                                              (the author, tenting)


It's kind of a metaphor for my life - this wishing to be a bird. I'm always observing birds, fascinated by what makes them tick, what compels them live life the way they do, attempting to understand them from the inside out, but maintaining the subtle distance of the observer. I can experience them with my heart, but I will never really be one of the flock. Sometimes I feel this way about being human, too.

Lately, my journalistic tendencies are focused on experiencing Nature: pure, raw, wild, free. During times of hardship when I could not find a friend, Mother Nature sustained me, and now I feel as though I owe her more than just a superficial relationship. I owe it to Her to move more deeply into her embrace, to listen to her soul-songs, and to discover her intimate secrets and truths.

Listen to Woodpecker by Stephen Chapman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQNFWqc-T9Q

Life on the Lake: Part 1

October 2012:

It's 1 a.m. and I lie alone in my tent in the woods by the lake. I've never tented alone before. In the past there was always someone camping with me or nearby. I thought I might be too scared to tent alone, deep in the woods, but I find I'm not. I have moments of  'heightened alertness,' listening to night sounds, but for the most part, I hear a constant chorus of loons, swans, ducks, and geese. My "fowl" friends are always there in the background making noise, like brothers and sisters chattering away in another room as I drift off to sleep. If they are quiet, I know it's about 2 am. Their chatter is quite comforting. I have the sense that:  I'm not really alone, life is all around me. The realization is akin to a pregnant woman knowing without a doubt that she is not  alone - not by a long-shot.

I will miss their sound when I am forced to move inside for the winter. I wish I could learn their language and communicate with them. But as hard as I try to imitate their sounds, I can only really observe. I will always be an "honorary" member of the tribe, a distant cousin -- but still kin.
                                             Birds: natural, FREE, able to just BE.
                    No politics, no ambitions, no agenda, no pretensions, just free spirits.
        How I wish I were one of them - (maybe a Hawk or an Eagle or a great horned Owl.)

Mountains by Stephen Chatman:
(music actually starts around 1:59)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53Rm3HnrEYQ

The Voice of the Rain by Stephen Chatman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNrngdvXroI