Friday, November 28, 2008

A Thanksgiving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving All!

We've got snow; lots of snow. I actually planned to write this little earlier but I've been enjoying time with stranded friends instead. Here in the north, we experience November as the bridge between fall and winter, the space between chatter and silence, that place where activity comes to a halt and takes a deep sigh.

This week, just when my friends from the North decided to stop in for a quick overnight on their way to warmer southern climates, winter decided to take a direct hit. My sweet friend, Madelenine, left the following behind when Mother Nature stopped to catch her breath and let them make their escape. I'll see you in the Spring on your way north again, Madeleine, Richard, Nicole and Reg. Bon Voyage!

“In wilderness is the preservation of the world.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

Stranded by Madeleine Beaupré

Well, we made it as far as Fife Lake, Michigan.

The first leg of our trip before the Alberta clipper hit.

Mother Nature had mischievously planned quite a shenanigan
We did arrive safely at Deb’s—But then that wasn't it.

We got snowed into her ample back yard.
Doing nothing but talking and cheering and feasting.
Becoming more ample ourselves—
She's a great hostess so it wasn't hard!

Then curled up comfortably in Deb's cushy chair,
Drinking in the laughter, the ribbing, the conversation,
I was inspired to jot down some unpolished thoughts,
Plucked from mid-air:

Thank You—A Free-Verse Outpouring

Wow—If I ever get stranded, what better place?
Surrounded by the familiar faces of family
grouped around Deb's home fires.
Igniting informal debates, chuckles then post-dinner
wine and rapid witty repartee.

Thank You, Fate,
for the coincidences you orchestrate.

Look out any window. What do you see,
through the delicate veil
of a windless, densely falling snow?

A babbling brook, a Winter-scape
straight out of a school text book.
A magical scene,
complete with overhanging snow-laden boughs
so muted and breath-taking, it leaves me in awe.

Thank You, Mother Earth,
for providing this oasis of gentleness.
Is this your way of saying I Love You, to us?
Well then,
Thank You once more!
We love you too!

Unbelievably, as if to confirm my thoughts,
she sends a lone, fragile fawn
down to drink from the stream!
How amazing is that?
It moves closer to the window—
we can see it clearly.
It raises its beautiful head,
and gazes right at us with those
soft doe-eyes, unafraid
before wandering away slowly,
taking a sip here, chewing on a twig there.

Again, Thank You!
For the gift of this simple pleasure of this sighting.

The new season is suddenly upon us.
The snow falls steadily overnight, gently
piling itself onto all surfaces in high, rounded mounds,
bestowing onto familiar objects an
otherworldly appearance.
But—another world it is!
A world of calm, and quietude,
and looking inward.
And forcibly slowing down all the
madness and the rush,
so that one may pause and say…

Thank You
for all this.
And everything else we neglect
to stop for a moment and appreciate.



"The only real voyage consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes; in seeing the universe through the eyes of another, one hundred others—in seeing the hundred universes that each of them sees.” ~Marcel Proust